15 March 2023
Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
It was on this date in the year 1711 that Fr. Eusebio Francisco Kino died. In 2020, after a thorough examination by scholars, the Pope declared him venerable. Fr. Kino was a very successful Jesuit missionary in Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico. He advocated for the Christian way of life there among the Indians and Europeans. He gathered them into dozens of successful missions which he founded. On top of that, he also taught ranching to the locals, who, under his direction, grew a herd of 20 cattle into a herd of 70,000. Moreover, Fr. Kino was a superlative cartographer. He it was that named the Colorado River, the name it carries to this day.
For the practitioner of Ignatian Spirituality, there are two important aspects of Fr. Kino. First of all, he had a deeply founded devotion and commitment to Jesus Christ and the one Church founded by Him. Secondly, in obedience to that same Church, he let go of one of his heart’s deepest desires. Fr. Kino had wanted to become a missionary in Asia: in China and Japan. Just look at his middle name: Francisco. That was a name that he added out of devotion to St. Francisco Xavier, the great missionary to Asia. Look at his last name, too. It was not originally Kino. It was Chini. He was an Italian-born man with an Italian last name that sounded rather like the Italian word for China: “Cina.” Nevertheless, despite Kino’s long-standing and deep desire to serve in China, the Church sent him to New Spain, that is, to modern-day Mexico and Arizona. When he got there, he changed his last name to “Kino,” because it would be easier for the locals to pronounce it. He let go of one of his heart’s deep desires because he realized that his deepest desire could only be fulfilled in God’s will.
As you continue your Lenten journey, consider which desires of your own God might be asking you to let go of.