From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   -- Psalm 27:14 --   
      
       Wait for the LORD;   
       be strong and take heart   
       and wait for the LORD.   
   ========================   
   His wisdom is sublime;   
       His heart profoundly kind:   
       God never is before His time,   
       And never is behind.   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   December 3rd - St. Francis Xavier   
      
   St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552), born of a noble Spanish family, Jesuit   
   missionary and confessor, Apostle to the Far East and special patron   
   saint of the Missions.   
      
   The biography of St. Francis Xavier by Daurignac reprints a section of   
   a letter he wrote to Dom John III, King of Portugal:   
      
    "My Lord, Your Highness should fear the moment when God will call you   
   to stand before Him, which will happen without fail and perhaps when   
   you least expect it. You should fear, great Prince, that an irate   
   Judge will address you with these terrible words of accusation:   
      
      'Why have you not proceeded with rigor against your ministers and   
   subordinates who plotted against Me in India and did not fear to   
   declare themselves in rebellion against Me? Why was your severity lax   
   except when they failed to pay their taxes or were negligent in the   
   administration of your finances?'   
      
   "My Lord, then you will answer God with the following excuse of little value:   
      
       'For Thy glory I wrote to those countries every year recommending   
   the greatest zeal in working for Thee and obeying Thy precepts.'   
      
   "Then the Lord will say to you:   
      
       'Yes, you did so, but you did not punish all those who were   
   indifferent to those orders.'"   
      
   (J. M.S. Daurignac, Vie de Saint Ignace de Loyola, Fondateur de la   
   Compagnie de Jesus, Paris: Bray et Retaux, 1877)   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   It is a very beautiful text. You should consider that at that time the   
   King of Portugal had important lands in India. In an annual letter to   
   his subordinates, he recommended that they do everything possible to   
   promote the Catholic Faith.   
      
   However, St. Francis Xavier, who was there making his apostolate,   
   witnessed that those orders were not followed and that those officials   
   even plotted to prevent the Catholic Faith from expanding. They were   
   decadent men, probably linked to some sort of Masonry that was already   
   secretly acting against the designs of the King of Portugal to   
   sabotage the spread of the Catholic Faith.   
      
   St. Francis Xavier wrote to the King, giving him this warning: It is   
   not enough to send orders; it is necessary to punish those who disobey   
   you, because a command unaccompanied by punishment of those who flout   
   it is a futile thing without value. It will not stand before God as   
   the accomplishment of your duty.   
      
   He told him: You, the King, have the obligation to punish those who   
   violate your orders to uphold and spread the Faith as strongly as you   
   punished those who did not pay their taxes to the Crown. If you   
   punished them for the taxes and not for religion, it means that you   
   consider taxes more valuable than the Catholic Faith.   
      
   Then, the Saint warned the King: You should be aware that God may call   
   you at any moment and then you will not be able to escape His   
   judgment.   
      
   Indeed, at any moment he could have an accident, an attempt against   
   his life could be made, he could become gravely ill, or some other   
   such thing could bring him before the tribunal of God. Then, how would   
   the King respond to God regarding the use of his power?   
      
   St. Francis Xavier reminded him of two principles: first, the temporal   
   power's principal concern should be to expand the Catholic Faith   
   rather than increase the royal fortune; second, the exercise of his   
   power should be accompanied with the threat of punishment for those   
   who disobey his orders. The King will have to answer to God for that.   
      
   It is admirable to see the liberty with which St. Francis Xavier   
   addressed one of the powerful men of the time. In times past, when   
   someone used this kind of frankness, it was termed in ecclesiastical   
   language "apostolic frankness." It is a beautiful expression that   
   reveals the courage an apostle must have. He is a representative of   
   God and must use the language of God. Therefore he has the right to   
   say the most unpleasant things to the most powerful men, and he has   
   the right to be heard.   
      
   St. Francis Xavier spoke to the King, realizing the serious   
   possibility that his words might change the King's way of acting. In   
   any circumstance, he fulfilled his duty and the warning was given.   
   From that moment on, the King had to answer for his actions in that   
   matter before God.   
      
   You see how this behavior is logical, noble, and beautiful. But you   
   also see that today it seems outdated. Not because such behavior   
   became obsolete in itself, but rather because men became so decadent   
   and lax that they no longer want to hear such words. For this reason,   
   today's progressivist Catholics would accuse St. Francis Xavier of   
   lacking charity for speaking in this way. They would say that this   
   kind of admonition showed that he was lacking in the Catholic spirit.   
      
   People who say this are wrong, because here we have the words of one   
   of the greatest saints of the Catholic Church, St. Francis Xavier, who   
   spoke this way. The saints did not use the honeyed language of this   
   false ecumenism that is everywhere in today's Church.   
      
   http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j157sd_StFrancisXavier_11-30.shtml   
      
      
   Saint Quote :   
   It is not the actual physical exertion that counts towards a man's   
   progress, nor the nature of the task, but by the spirit of faith with   
   which it is undertaken.   
   -- Saint Francis Xavier   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Do not complain against one another, brethren, that you may not be   
   judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door.  (James 5:9)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The world   
      
   The world would sooner be brought close to God. His will would sooner   
   be done on earth, if all who acknowledge Him gave themselves   
   unreservedly to being used by Him. God can use every human being as a   
   channel for divine love and power. What delays the bringing of the   
   world closer to God is the backwardness of His followers. If each one   
   lived each day for God and allowed God to work through him, then the   
   world would soon be drawn much closer to God, its Founder and   
   Preserver.   
   I pray that I may be used as a channel to express the Divine Love.   
   I pray that I may so live as to bring God's spirit closer to the world.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)