First Thursday of Advent: Memorial of St. Francis Xavier
Long before young Francis left Europe and became one of the first Europeans to set foot in Japan, he looked up at a unique crucifix in his family castle’s chapel in Xavier, Spain.
In the chapel, death adorned the walls through dancing skeletons—a somewhat morbid chapel by today’s standard, yet all the more strange for the crucifix suspending a smiling Jesus Christ. Amidst the death stood a dying Christ, smiling. I imagine this paradox of joy amidst death remained with Francis, like a “house built on rock,” as he later converted and traveled across stormy oceans to spread the gospel.
Yet his legacy remains complicated, for he also helped spread European empire and greed. Japan initially “opened up the gates to let in a nation” but unfortunately not nations so just. This Japanese folding screen painting, made during this early time of open trade, depicts the dynamic mix of peoples from different continents, and even a Mass in the house in the upper right corner of the painting. Perhaps the promise of prosperity kept things going. But that would change very violently as the years passed, and European Christian proselytization partially led to the defensive closure of Japan. Do we carry the aims of empire with our faith?
But like the Japanese elite long ago, powerful voices call for a defensive closure of the United States of America, and many work to build the walls that close hearts and borders to people who come. My parish, Dolores Mission Church, shelters unhoused men, many of whom are immigrants. We create a beloved community of faith for documented and undocumented immigrants, organizing them and advocating for them.
Through them, those considered poor in this world, we believe that Jesus is coming to our “lofty city” of Los Angeles. Like Jesus, they smile in the midst of so much death, and remain strong. Only if we remain with them—remain with Jesus—will we remain standing when God humbles the “lofty city...trampled underfoot by the needy, by the footsteps of the poor.” To fight for justice for any other reason than a relationship with Jesus in the poor, we will surely collapse like a house built on sand in the storm.
