Hello everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where you read the daily gospels and the saint of the day.
Let’s get started! Today is Wednesday, December 3rd and the gospel reading is Matthew 15, 29 through 37.
And the scripture to reflect on is Luke 15, 32.
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat and I am unwilling to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way.
In today’s scripture, Jesus saw that the people had been with him for three days and had nothing to eat, so he didn’t want them to go home hungry.
God showed his power through Jesus to provide more than they needed.
Sometimes my mom reminds me of this because if me and my brother eat too fast or we act like we only are the only ones eating, she says something like, we have never not had food for you.
Have we ever not had enough?
Something to really think about because God gives my family all and everything that we need.
Today’s Saint of the Day, Saint Francis Xavier.
He was born April 7th, 1506 and died December 3rd, 1552.
He’s the patron saint of Asia.
Born in northern Spain, Francis was the youngest of a noble family.
As the youngest, special attention was given to his education.
He was sent to university to study theology.
There he met Saint Ignatius of Loyola and although Francis was skeptical of him at first, he eventually became one of Ignatius’s closest friends and one of the first members of the Society of Jesus founded by Ignatius.
After his ordination, Francis was sent to the East Indies to teach, preach, baptize, and work among the poor.
He traveled to India and Malay Archipelago in Spice Islands, present-day Indonesia and Japan, living among the people and catechizing them.
He served without regard to rank or class and was known for adapting his methods to suit the culture and character of the people he was evangelizing.
Francis was always driven by the desire to teach more people about Christianity and God’s love for them, and in his lifetime, he baptized approximately 30,000 persons.
After more than 10 years as a missionary, he became ill and died at the age of 46, just as he was on the verge of entering the new missionary territory of China.
God will always give us what we need.
We should thank him for this.
If you forget, there is always an easy way to start.
You can thank God for your food at mealtimes or even when you’re going to sleep at night.
Thank him for another day.
Whenever Francis Xavier went, he would learn the language of the native people, believing it was the best way to connect with them.
Unfortunately, he had no knack for languages and struggled a great deal with this.
God does not always let us stay in our comfort zones, doing only what we are good at.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help us to never forget that you always give us what we need.
Help us to never worry and teach us how to to serve the people anywhere and everywhere.
Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
We’ll be back tomorrow scattering more flowers.
See ya!