Saint of the day and Feast days.

[Patricia]

Blessed Rafal, St. Bibiana pray for us!

[odhiambo]

3rd December

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Francis Xavier
Among many other saints.

[odhiambo]

Saint Francis Xavier.
Francis was born near Pamplona in Navarre, Spain on April 7, 1506 (October 7, 1506 by other accounts). After completing his preliminary studies in Spain, he went to Paris, France in 1525, enrolling at the University of Sainte-Barbe for a doctorate degree. While there, he met Pierre Favre and they became close friends. The two also got to know Ignatius Loyola, who was at the same university. Ignatius convinced them to become founder members of the Society of Jesus.
Francis, together with others, took their vows with Ignatius at Montmarte in 1534, binding them to the service of God. He was thus, one of the very first Jesuits.
Francis was ordained to priesthood together with his fellow Jesuits on June 24, 1537.
After his ordination, he went with Ignatius to Rome , where the Pope approved the Order. He served for a brief period in Rome.
On April 7, 1541, Francis departed for India as the Jesuit’s first foreign missionary. He landed in Goa and immediately began to learn the language, preach, minister to the sick and compose a catechism. He worked for seven years among these people of Southern India and throughout Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka). Multitudes flocked to hear him and he won many converts to the Faith. His success was, however more marked among the lower castes of Indian society than the upper or Brahman caste. After a whole year of working with the Brahmans, he claimed just one convert!
Francis encountered much difficulty in his apostolate in India, not only among the Hindus, whose religion he did not understand, but also among the Portuguese and Europeans whose exploitation of the native population, he found unacceptable.
On April 17, 1549, Francis set sail for Japan . He studied Japanese for a time at Kagoshima and then set out for Kyoto. After two years of apostolate in Japan, Francis had a Christian community numbering some two thousand and growing rapidly. He entrusted this Church to a Portuguese priest.
Francis next set his sights on China . He arranged passage there on a merchant ship on an August day in 1552. The ship reached the desolated island of Shang-chwan , near the Chinese coast not far from Canton. While there, Francis was seized with a febrile illness on November 21, 1552. He grew progressively weak, finally dying on December 3, 1552. He was buried the following day.
After more than two months, the grave and coffin were opened and his body found incorrupt. The body was taken back to Goa, India and is enshrined in the Church of the Good Jesus.
Francis Xavier was beatified in 1619 and canonized a saint of the Catholic Church in 1622. In 1748 he was named the Patron Saint of the Orient. In 1904 he was declared the patron saint for the Propagation of the Faith and in 1927 named the patron of missions. Francis Xavier is also the Patron Saint of all Navigators
Saint Francis Xavier is considered the greatest missionary since Saint Paul, and patron of foreign missions whose work in the Far East earned him the title “Apostle of the East Indies” and “Apostle of Japan”.
Saint Francis Xavier,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

4th December

Today is the Feast day of
Saint John Damascene
Among many other saints.

[Shin]

'Then at last I baptize them in due form, and I give to each his name written on a ticket. After their baptism the new Christians go back to their houses and bring me their wives and families for baptism. When all are baptized I order all the temples of their false gods to be destroyed and all the idols to be broken in pieces. I can give you no idea of the joy I feel in seeing this done, witnessing the destruction of the idols by the very people who but lately adored them.'

St. Francis Xavier

'You, like so many others who resemble you, are greatly mistaken, when you fancy you can follow your opinions and judgment, merely for the reason that you are Members of the Society.'

St. Francis Xavier, to the Jesuit Fathers

'"Like a tree planted by streams of water," [Ps. 1:3] the soul is irrigated by the Holy Scriptures and acquires vigour, produces tasty fruit, namely, true faith, and is beautified with a thousand green leaves, namely, actions that please God.'

St. John of Damascus

'We depict Christ as our King and Lord, and we do not strip Him of His army. For the saints are the Lord's army.'

St. John of Damascus

[Shin]

Good morning from the other side of the world odhiambo! 

[odhiambo]

Saint John Damascene.
John of Damascus (also called John Damascene) was born in Damascus in 676. His father was a staunch Christian. Despite his faith, John’s father was a high-ranking member of the Caliph’s court. He used his rank and his wealth to obtain for John the best possible Christian education of the time in order to develop his son’s considerable intellectual gifts.
After his father’s death, John began to work for the Caliph as well.
Then came the Iconoclast controversy. This was triggered by Emperor Leo III “Leo the Isaurian” who openly condemned the veneration of icons in 726, He lead the iconoclasts in arguing that the veneration of any images was blasphemous
From the Caliph’s court, John used his writings to reach out and defend the veneration of icons against the emperor’s accusations.
Legend has it that, in retaliation, Leo obtained a copy of John’s personal correspondence. Forging John’s signature, he wrote a letter claiming to be from John offering to hand over the city of Damascus to the Byzantines. He sent the letter to the Caliph.
. When the Caliph received the letter, he had John’s writing hand cut off, despite John’s protests of innocence.
John prayed to the Blessed Mother. And with her intercession, his hand was restored. Seeing the miracle, the Caliph was assured of John’s innocence and moved to have him restored to court.
John however, had realized his true calling to be a priest and a monk. Instead of returning to the court, he went to live in the monastery of St. Sabas. From his cell, he continued to write in defense of icons.
Ultimately, John’s views, in line with Church teaching and tradition, prevailed against the iconoclasts and the Seventh Council of Nicea vindicated his name.
John died between 754 and 787 and was proclaimed Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1890.
Saint John Damascene,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Good morning to you shin.
It is however 3.04 pm here according to the time on the cyber computer I am using.
From Church, I decided to do this before going back home where I am not sure I will be able to 

[Shin]

I thought it might be near towards evening or evening there!

Have a safe journey home I pray!

It's a good time of month for better remembering the saints, Advent really inspires one to be more devoted! 

This work will do all the more good! 

[odhiambo]

It is indeed shin. Let us therefore prepare the way for the Lord's coming.The Homily was great today. The priest told us to make our hearts accessible to the Lord by "building good roads to avoid traffic jams"! spiritually speaking that is. Practically all parts of Nairobi is under road constructions. I guess the is why the priest was inspired to use that analogy 

[Shin]

Ha ha! Nairobi sounds like a great place to learn the virtue of patience. 

[Patricia]

Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians.

-- Saint Francis Xavier

[odhiambo]

Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians.
-- Saint Francis Xavier

Just what Jesus said:

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Matthew 9:37

[Shin]

St. Savas the Sanctified ora pro nobis.

St. Savas is one of the desert monks for December 5th.

"Spiritual student of Saint Euthymius the Great at age 20. Anchorite from age 30, living in a cave, devoting himself to prayer and manual labor. He wove ten willow baskets each day. On Saturday he would take them to the local monastery, led by Saint Euthymius, and trade them for a week’s food, and a week’s worth of willow wands for more baskets. Took over leadership of the monks upon the death of Saint Euthymius. Co-superior with Saint Theodosius over 1,000 monks and hermits in the region.

Sabbas was a simple man with little education, but with a firm belief in the spiritual benefits of simple living. The combination of his lack of education and his severe austerities caused some of his charges to rebel. Sabbas tired of the squabbling, and he missed his time in prayer, so he fled to TransJordania. There he found a cave inhabited by a lion; the lion moved on, finding a new home, and giving the cave to the holy man. A distorted version of this tale reached the rebellious monks; they seized on it, reported to the patriarch that Sabbas had been killed by a lion, and requested a new leader be appointed. As this message was being formally presented to the patriarch, Sabbas walked into the room. This led to a confrontation during which the complaints of the monks were aired. However, the patriach took Sabbas’s side, and the two restored order and discipline to the lives of the anchorites.

Sabbas led a peaceful uprising of 10,000 monks who demanded the end of the persecutions of Palestinian bishops of Anastatius I.

At age 90, Sabbas travelled to Constantinople where he successfully pled for clemency from Justinian for Samarians who were in revolt."

- PSI

[odhiambo]

5th December
Today is the Memorial of
Saint Sabas
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Sabas.
Sabas was born at Mutalaska, Cappadocia( modern Turkey) near Caesarea .
His parents were Christians named John and Sophia. His father was
an army officer. When he was assigned to Alexandria , he went with his wife, but left his son in the care of an uncle.
Unfortunately, the wife of the uncle treated Sabas so badly that he ran away to another uncle. He was only eight years old at the time.
When the two uncles became involved in a lawsuit over his estate, he again ran away, this time to a monastery called Flavinia, about 3 miles from Mutalaska.
In time the uncles were reconciled and wanted him to marry, but he remained in the monastery.
In 456, he went to Jerusalem and there entered a monastery under St. Theoctistus.
When he was thirty, he became a hermit under the guidance of St. Euthymius, and after Euthymius' death, spent four years alone in the desert near Jericho.
Despite his desire for solitude, he attracted disciples. He organized these monks into “Laura” which means a community of monks.
When the monks asked for a priest and despite his opposition to monks being ordained, he was obliged to accept ordination by Patriarch Sallust of Jerusalem in 491.
He attracted disciples from Egypt and Armenia , allowed them a liturgy in their own tongue, and built several hospitals and another monastery near Jericho .
He was appointed archimandrite ( Eastern Orthodox Church, the head of a monastery or a group of monasteries)of all hermits in Palestine who lived in separate cells.
In 511, he was one of a delegation of abbots sent to Emperor Anastasius I to plead with the Emperor to mitigate his persecution of orthodox bishops and religious.
In 531, when he was ninety one, he again went to Constantinople, this time to plead with Emperor Justinian to suppress a Samaritan revolt and protect the people of Jerusalem from further harassment by the Samaritans.
He fell ill soon after his return to his laura from this trip and died on December 5 at Laura Mar Saba, after naming his successor.

Sabas is one of the most notable figures of early monasticism and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism.
The laura he founded in the desolate, wild country between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, named Mar Saba after him, was often called the Great Laura for its preeminence and produced many great saints. It is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church and is one of the three or four oldest monasteries in the world.
Saint Sabas,
Pray for us!