Introduction

This is the homily I preached at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb., on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, the Commemoration of St. Francis Xavier, when the Homestead Cluster gathered for the Eucharist.

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Readings

Isaiah 62:1-7
Psalm 48
Romans 10:11-17
Luke 24:44-53

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Message

Sometimes the commemoration of a saint
can strike us as a detour on our journey
through the current liturgical season.
And on first impressions,
our pause today in Advent
to mark the mission and ministry of St. Francis Xavier
may feel like we are taking one of those distracting detours.

But not really.

We stop today to give God thanks
and to seek inspiration from a man
who as a priest and a missionary
served with seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm
to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

Francis touched the lives of thousands,
living out the chain of reasoning
Paul describes in his letter to the Romans:
The Church sent Francis,
so he could proclaim,
so that many could hear,
and some might believe,
and believing, call upon the name of the Lord.

Through his missionary witness,
he gave himself away as an obedient servant of God the Father
and a faithful steward of the great treasures
of the Word and the Sacraments entrusted to the Church by his Son
and energized by their Holy Spirit.

Through his missionary ministry, Francis carried on the task
the risen Christ had given to the apostles
at their commissioning on the evening of his resurrection day—
to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins
in his name to all nations.

A detour in our journey through Advent?
I don’t think so.
Because if this is the season of preparation,
it is properly the season to prepare to celebrate
the coming of our Lord in all times as Savior of the nations.

And so we reminisce about his birth
and we join with the saints and angels
in crying, “Come, Lord Jesus,”
praying for him to fulfill and complete this history
and bring this broken world to an end by making all things new.

These are preparations that look back and gaze ahead.
But the third preparation is to watch, to listen,
to submit, to receive, to obey, to rejoice, and to proclaim
the coming of the Lord in our lives here and now.

This is the preparation to which St. Francis inspires us.
Among the people of God,
the Church has charged us
with the distinctive and awesome and crucial vocation
to tend to the vitality and the fidelity of the Word—
audible and visible and tangible.
We have a special calling—with St. Francis—
to serve the Father in companionship with the Son
through the power of their Holy Spirit,
preparing the people of God
to be the bride over whom our Lord will rejoice
on that day when he comes in glory. Amen.