Novena of Grace (Day 9) Year A

This Sunday is Palm Sunday and then the rigour of Holy Week begins. Even then I still feel light since the novena is ending today. It has been a challenging 9 days simply because of the fear of failure to make connexion with the readings, the life of St Francis Xavier and the preaching. Now, it is almost over. I can even sense my own palpable feeling of joy that it’s over...

At the point, it is perhaps good to look at Francis waiting for a favourable time to enter China but is in fact, nearing the end of his earthly life. Today we are concerned with the death of St Francis. He left India in April of 1522 and entered the Bay of Canton in September, disembarking on the desolate island of Sancian (or Sanchuang or St John’s Island). Sancian was a hideout for Chinese smugglers but it was also used by Portuguese traders. Determined to get to China, Francis tried to entice some of the smugglers to take him there, but none wanted to take the risk. He eventually hired one of them, but after he paid him, the man disappeared. In the meantime, Francis looked longingly towards China, not knowing that his missionary days are over. On 21st November he was taken ill with a fever and was confined to his leafy hut on the island’s shore. His Christian Chinese servant, Antonio, faithfully cared for him in his final illness and years later wrote an account of the saint’s last days. On 28th November Francis went into a coma but regained consciousness on 1st December. Throughout his waking hour he prayed constantly, until the early morning of 3rd December, when he went to heaven. His body was buried on the island and when spring came his remains were taken to Malacca, and a few years later to Goa.

The death of Francis is not exactly the point of our interest. Rather, his death becomes for us a starting point of our reflexion. Thus far, we have touched upon, in general, the different periods of Francis’ life. Today, we want to think about Francis the Saint. Death opens up for us a vista on what sanctity really is.

Let’s see where sanctity lies. The results of the SPM exams are out. The Olympics will soon come upon us. Our focus is on results as we count the number of “A’s” in the SPM or what the total gold medal haul is for a country. We are result-oriented as we push our students or athletes to excel in classrooms or the field. But, we seem to think that sainthood or sanctity is so different from this human drive to excel that it is beyond our reach. According to St Maximillian Kolbe, a Conventual Franciscan and I quote him because he is contemporaneous, meaning that he lived not so many years away from our experience, he said: There is in man’s very nature a continual drive to perfect himself physically, mentally and morally. In the history of man we find individuals everywhere whom we consider to be in a class above the ordinary crowd, above even the well-educated. These persons we call “Saints”. Unquote. The first part of the quote is of interest to us.

If students strive to advance themselves academically—drive to perfect themselves mentally and athletes exert themselves to break records—drive to perfect themselves physically, the question is why is there a hesitation to drive ourselves to moral perfection. In fact, we continually claim “humanity” to be the cause of our moral imperfection. “I am only human”. In short, we may tower over the rest with our physical prowess or mental mastery but morally we are pygmies. I apologise to the pygmies in Africa for using them as a measure for our lack of moral stature.

“It is difficult to become a saint. Difficult but not impossible. The road to perfection is long, as long as one’s lifetime. Along the way, consolation becomes rest; but as soon as your strength is restored, you must diligently get up and resume the trip”. This is a quote from another one of our contemporaries, Padre Pio or St Pio. St Josemaria Escriva says, “Each day be conscious of your duty to be a saint. A saint! And that doesn’t mean doing strange things. It means a daily struggle in the interior life and in heroically fulfilling your duty right through the end”.

Even in today’s cheap Air Asia flight, many of us will never be able to chalk up in a life’s time the mileage which St Francis did in his short life. It just means that our sanctity has to be exercised from the bedroom to the kitchen to the dining hall; from the car porch to the parking bay under the office; from the office to the meeting... everything and anything becomes the way to fulfil God’s will. The truth is we spend our entire life’s time revolved around the kitchen, the office table, the road, the classroom, the ward, etc. In short, life is routine... very routine. In fact, 95% of our life involves routine. If that is so, would it not be fair to say that God’s will is found in the greater part of our life rather than the 5% of our life which we classify as exciting. And this exciting 5% is often our problem because we keep thinking that the will of God is to be found when we make the corner as if the will of God is just around the corner. But, in truth, the will of God is often “now” and not tomorrow or somewhere else.

This “now” is what we call a daily struggle in the interior life which in today’s Gospel Jesus simply says: If you make my word your home, you will indeed be my disciples, and you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free. The truth about the “now” and not about the “later, the future or tomorrow”. All through the novena, as we come before God with our hearts desires to ask earnestly of God what He can do for us, we are actually struggling with words unspoken to ask God what we can do for Him. O God, what is Your will for me now? It is in the “now” that we are to find our freedom.

Which is why we have kept till today the blessing for those who suffer, first from addiction and secondly for those who are victims of crimes. If you think about it, what is addiction? We might take on a little air of self-righteous indignation with people who suffer from addictions. How come they have no control over themselves? But that is precisely the point. Addiction is not because people have no self-control. Addiction is often a symptom of holding on to something which we cannot and dare not let go because we are afraid that when we do, there is nothing for us to grab onto “now”. That when we let go, God is not thre for us. We dare not die for the same reason too. Fear that God will not be there when the final chapter of our life on earth is finished.

People in general do not want to be addicted. Ask a person who smokes or drinks one drink too many how much loathing takes place in his or her life? Ask them if they go through a period of “one last stick”, “one last drink” only to find that they reach for yet another stick or another last drink. Addiction is looking for God in the wrong place. It is only when we have let go of our insecurity that we will find that we do not need one last stick or one last drink. When we finally have Him who alone can satisfy us, then we will willingly let go of our additions.

Sometimes people do not want to go for confession and their reason is simple: “Why come for confession when I will do the same sin again”? They really missed the point about what sainthood is. We will struggle with temptation right till the end of our lives and we may even be addicted to a particular sin right till we die. Therefore, sanctity is not focussed on the fact that we have no more sin. The blessing is handy because “the saints are those who struggle right to the end of their lives, who always get up each time they stumble, each time they fall, and courageously embark on their way once more with humility, love and hope”. St Josemaria Escriva. Today, as we end our Novena of Grace, let us ask that we never shy from striving for moral perfection even if we do not always succeed and know that our holiness is God’s gift to those who persevere along this pilgrimage called life.