A curious detail stands out in Jesus’ healing of the two blind men in today’s Gospel. “As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him…” Jesus was on the move, and these two men, who could not see, were trying to move with Him. Though blind, they were following Him. St. Matthew does not include further details, whether friends were helping them along, whether Jesus slowed down for them. Instead, we are simply introduced to two men doing a relatively ordinary act, that for them required immense trust and courage. Though they could not see Him, they followed Him.
Today’s saint is one of the first Jesuits and, along with St. Therese of the Child Jesus, is the patron saint of missionaries. He is also known as the Apostle of Japan, because, after working for years to bring the sacraments (and civil protections) to the people of Southern India, and to various island nations of South East Asia, he was the first missionary to set foot in Japan and to plant the seeds of the Christian faith there. Encouraged by the first Christians there, he eventually set out to try to go to China as well, and died on a small island off the coast of China waiting to enter the country on December 3, 1552.
Bringing the Gospel to these lands so new to him and to all those he knew, St. Francis Xavier must have felt like the blind in today’s Gospel. Not only was he the first missionary to set foot in Japan, he was the first European to do so. There were no signs in his language. There were no dictionaries nor any language learning apps. He had one person willing to try to act as a translator, and he had determination in his forties to attempt to learn enough Japanese to be able to tell others of the basics of the catechism. With that he walked nearly half the length of the country to reach the city of the emperor and seek permission to evangelize legally in Japan. May this ardent seeker of souls for Christ pray for us that we too may be moved by love of Jesus and love of others (even those far away), so that even when we feel like we can’t see how, we may still follow Jesus in loving those whom He loves so much!