A reflection on the daily readings, for the Memorial of St. Francis Xavier, priest, by Father Perry.
“On that day …” again, Isaiah proclaims a time that would come when there would be no more weeping.
We would be heard by the Lord, be answered by the Lord, and have plenty of bread and water.
With your/our own eyes and ears you would see and hear the teacher; learn the way; get plenty of rain; sow the seeds; produce abundant fruitfulness of the land; be given spacious meadows and pastures for your flocks and lambs and asses and oxen.
Then light from the moon and the sun seven (OMG — that number!) times brighter; and all wounds and bruises bound up for healing.
Is that all, Lord?
What?
That is a promise list that could only be described as messianic and God-filled.
And those to whom it was promised would know and believe with all their hearts just how loved they are.
And “on that day” and “in that time,” as Jesus made that great promise list a reality, Jesus then upped the promise by enlarging and increasing 12-fold the numbers of people (the apostles: the new 12 tribes of Israel) who got called and sent and proclaimed the kingdom of God.
As they proclaimed that kingdom of God at hand, they also cured the sick and raised the dead and cleansed lepers and drove out demons.
They got this for free and they were to give it for free!
What a messianic time, indeed!
And no doubt, Psalm 147 poured out in a song of praise as they delightedly proclaimed: “Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.”
+St. Francis Xavier, priest, was deeply influenced by St. Ignatius of Loyola, then joined his ranks in the Jesuit order, then gave his life away to the Lord by going east to China to preach the kingdom of God, and ultimately dying on his journey to the East.
And so all of us are called and sent, and getting for free and giving for free, and seeing and hearing and believing and loving the fruit of “that day and that time,” which has been so realized in us, too, and for which we appreciate not only the kingdom born alive in us but a kingdom of forever and ever!
That day is today and is forever!
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
