St. Francis Xavier

“Caritas Christi urget nos” (2 Cor 5:14): it is the love of Christ that fills our hearts and impels us to evangelize. Today as in the past, he sends us through the highways of the world to proclaim his Gospel to all the peoples of the earth (cf. Mt 28:19). Through his love, Jesus Christ attracts to himself the people of every generation: in every age he convokes the Church, entrusting her with the proclamation of the Gospel by a mandate that is ever new. Today too, there is a need for stronger ecclesial commitment to new evangelization in order to rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith. In rediscovering his love day by day, the missionary commitment of believers attains force and vigour that can never fade away. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy. It makes us fruitful, because it expands our hearts in hope and enables us to bear life-giving witness: indeed, it opens the hearts and minds of those who listen to respond to the Lord’s invitation to adhere to his word and become his disciples. Porta Fidei, 7, Pope Benedict XVI

St. Francis Xavier, one of the first companions of St. Ignatius, was filled with the desire to "set all afire" on love with Christ. He worked ceaselessly as a missionary in India and Japan and hoped to set foot in China. Yet his work was constantly being undermined and undone, first by the Portuguese traders who lived on the coasts of India and whose bad example gave great scandal, and then by Moslem terrorists who would slaughter thousands of those he had just baptized. Yet he never gave up! St. Francis understood the duty imposed upon all who are baptized - the duty to spread the faith to all around us. Though we are not called to evangelized like St. Francis, we are duty bound to spread the faith to those we live with, even to our own family members. We do this primarily by living a good Catholic life, faithful to all that the Church teaches and being ready to explain the reasons why we do this.
This is one of the primary reasons why the Holy Father has set aside a "Year of Faith." In his Letter he gives several projects he wants us each to do in preparation for and during the "Year of Faith." One is that of studying the Catechism of the Catholic Faith. There is so much we can learn just by reading it ourselves, and there are excellent study programs we can take to help us gleam even more out of the text! Another thing the Holy Father wants us to do is study Church History. This is important, and even more important is to find a good Catholic course, as much error abounds!
One thing that will be of decisive importance in this Year is retracing the history of our faith, marked as it is by the unfathomable mystery of the interweaving of holiness and sin. While the former highlights the great contribution that men and women have made to the growth and development of the community through the witness of their lives, the latter must provoke in each person a sincere and continuing work of conversion in order to experience the mercy of the Father which is held out to everyone. PF13