Welcome to our daily rosary meditation. Let's begin in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let's call to mind all those we've promised to pray for.

Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent, but it's also December 3rd, which is normally the

feast of St. Francis Xavier.

So let's meditate on the significance of the life of Xavier today

Because he's one of the greatest missionaries in the history of Christianity

Now Francis Xavier would probably have never become a saint and certainly not a missionary

without his friends beginning with Ignatius of Loyola.

Born in the castle of Xavier in 1506,

Francis went to college in Paris,

and it was there that he met Ignatius of Loyola, a former military officer who was wounded in

battle and converted as he convalesced.

Now Ignatius did something very important.

He took the initiative to develop a deep friendship with Francis Xavier and five others.

Peter Faber, Simau, Rodriguez, Alfonso Samuron,

Diego Lines, and Nicholas Babadilla.

And these seven friends shared life together. In fact in a letter of 1547 Diego writes

every few days we would take our provisions and eat at the home of one of the companions.

And after that at the home of another,

and we would visit each other often.

And I think this helped us to stay close. In this time the Lord gave us special help with our studies in which we did fairly well,

directing them always to the glory of the Lord and the help of our neighbors,

...