Feast Day Of St. Francis Xavier And An Epiphany About My Name

The family tale about my birth has it that my father, who was a recent graduate from the Jesuit Boston College, had a lot of respect for the Society of Jesus.  So he thought about naming his first born son after the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius De Loyola.  Fortunately, my mother stood firm against that idea, I was named Jonathan Francis Jones.  Now, for a good part of my life, I always assumed that my baptismal name came from St. Francis of Assisi.  Then, when it was learned that the new Pope took the name, Francis, from the Poor Man of Assisi; and not his fellow Jesuit, St Francis Xavier; I had an epiphany.   In what I assumed was a marital compromise, my baptismal name came from Francis Xavier, one of the original Jesuits.

There are similarities between the two saints.  Both men felt called to be evangelizers, to go out and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.  For Francis of Assisi, it was preaching in the streets and marketplaces of Italy.  For Francis Xavier, it was to go out to the foreign shores of Asia.

Pope Francis has addressed a letter to the whole Church, calling all of its members, clergy and laity, to become modern evangelizers.  Maybe we should use this Advent, as a time of preparation, so that, on Christmas morning, we, like the angels, will be proclaiming the glad tidings to the entire world.

Habemus Papam; And a Jesuit Yet!

Okay, so this posting has the same title as a hundred plus other postings, but it hard to be more original.

This was a day of firsts; first Pope from South America; first Pope to use the name Francis; and the first Pope from the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits. 

I was at work when the announcement came in.  I hurried down to our building lobby, which has a flat screen TV.  They always show CNN, and there it was, the scenes from Rome.  They replayed the scene of the white smoke coming out of the smokestack.  It appears they finally got the right chemical mix, because I have never seen such unmistakable white smoke coming out of the Sistine Chapel.  Waiting for that announcement, I was experiencing conflicting emotions, fearful that the College of Cardinals may have taken Cardinal Sean from us, but hoping he received the nod.  I finally had to go back to my office, and saw the first appearance of the new Pontiff on somebody's computer screen.  I had to go to the National Catholic Reporter website to find his bio.

The Franciscan in me is thrilled that he selected the name of our founder.  That he is a conservative, well, one could not expect otherwise.  I think he could make some Catholic capitalists a little uneasy ( maybe very uneasy)!  It is still too early to know what course he will set for the Bark of St. Peter.  The next few months will tell.  He has definitely set a different style from the moment he stepped out on the balcony. We are in for some interesting times.

Another Saint For Veterans

Reflecting of Veteran's Day, I realized that there is another saint that veterans could adopt as a patron saint.  And that would be Saint Ignatius of Loyola, born in 1491, died July 31, 1556.  A Basque knight, he had fought in many battles, the last being the defense of a castle against an invading French force.  He was seriously wounded, when a cannonball shattered one of his legs.  His French opponents, impressed by his valor, escorted him back to his family's castle.  He recovered, but his leg never healed properly, and for the rest of his life, he would be walking with a limp. 

While recuperating, Ignatius began to read books on the life of Jesus Christ, and of Catholic saints.  Inspired by what he read, he set out to change his life, and to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As he began to have deeper spiritual experiences, he wrote out how he came to these experiences, and these writings formed the basis for his Spiritual Exercises.  He guided his university companions through these Exercises, and together they would form the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits.