The New Orleans Provincial And The 86th Annual St. Francis Xavier Novena Of Grace

Novena preacher says we set an example

By Tanya Connor

WORCESTER – Personal and vocational conversion and being an instrument of others’ conversion.

These were graces a Jesuit provincial and historian suggested worshipers ask for at the 86th annual St. Francis Xavier Novena of Grace at St. John Parish.

He connected them to the saint’s life and to Christians today. “You look at this Mass, this novena, and you say, ‘This is as good as it was,’” Father Mark A. Lewis, provincial of the Jesuits of the New Orleans Province, said after Saturday’s 4:15 p.m.

Mass that packed St. John’s. “We have to make the ‘good old days’ out of today.” In the past people had a strong sense that they would survive things together with faith in God, and that doesn’t have to change, he said. Father Lewis was responding to audience questions and comments after his talk, which followed Mass. Another person asked how to reach young people without Church connections. “My first intuition is we remain family,”

Father Lewis said. “Our prayer for our family is important, no matter what choices they have made.” He said the peacefulness of Christ’s followers brings others back to the Church. “St. Francis Xavier would say you baptize children wherever they are coming from,” he said. “The important thing in a baptism like that – it’s not a magic trick. Baptism is an invitation to this community. In many ways it’s the sacraments that invite people back into the Church.”

A listener said if parents don’t understand their faith, they can’t teach it to their children, and many parents are afraid to talk about certain things.

Father Lewis said St. Francis Xavier taught catechism, and not only to children. The Latin grammar book employed the catechism, so when children practiced, parents heard it.

“We’re not prayed for in the state that we’re in,” complained parishioner Dianne Gustowski, 41. “I pray every day for single people like me.” She said she couldn’t take care of her mother as she does if she had a husband and children. Father Lewis mentioned a vocation retreat he helped give, which included a nun, a seminarian and a single person. He noted that there is not a sacrament related to being single, but all are called to holiness. Father John F. Madden, St. John’s pastor, said Masses there have petitions for their seminarian and married people, but not singles. It’s not that they don’t care, he said, but he doesn’t know what the call to single life is and “you need to help us.” In his talk,

Father Lewis said that in the 1520s St. Francis Xavier was a University of Paris student who wanted to be an important priest, not a fanatic. He needed conversion: he played games, drank, gambled and hung out with Ignatius of Loyola because the latter had money. Ignatius gathered his friends around him to help souls and shared his Spiritual Exercises – meditations on Christ’s life – which Francis resisted at first. Father Lewis said that at the root of the Exercises are questions all could ask the crucified Christ, questions that form the basis of prayer for conversion: We see what you have done for us, but what have I done for You? What am I doing for You now? What might I do for You tomorrow? He said Francis Xavier saw his planned career might not be as much of a response to Christ crucified as a life of “helping souls.”

Today too people experience economic crisis and ideological battles and it is easy to move away from these things to the safety of a career, a life without much commitment, Father Lewis said. He said Catholics might attend Mass and give to charity, but do they reflect on their baptismal call? Personal conversion is a lifelong process, he said, and encouraged listeners to use the Spiritual Exercises, ask for the grace to ask and answer those questions and seek out friends who will help them live the answer.

Speaking of the grace of conversion in one’s vocation, Father Lewis said Francis joined companions who became the Jesuits. They wanted to set good examples for clergy, then often corrupted by money and power. Through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and the support of companions, Francis would live his vocation with integrity.

Today too clergy and married couples need to live their vocations with integrity, Father Lewis said, urging prayer, presence and advice for couples with difficulties. Father Lewis told novena-goers their prayer intentions are usually for someone else, but their own conversion helps them be instruments of conversion for others.

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