Reflections on the readings for the Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (November 13, 2020): 2 JN 4-9; PS 119:1,2,10,11,17,18; LK 17:26-37
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
Mother Cabrini’s tremendous energy and sense of deep purpose helped her in serving our Lord by ministering to the material and spiritual needs of His people.
On this day celebrating the Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, we honor a woman who suffered all her life from frail health, yet who never let that interfere with God’s plans for her. Born in Lombardy, in what is now Italy in 1850, she was refused entry to a convent because they did not believe she was physically capable. Instead, she worked at and soon headed a home for orphaned children. It was there that she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus along with several other women. Long-desiring to serve in the missions, her original goal was China. At the specific request of Pope Leo XIII, she and her religious Sisters headed to New York in 1889 to serve the great number of Italian and other immigrants pouring into the United States. Over the next 35 years she established 67 institutions to aid the poor and needy through schools, orphanages, and hospitals across North America as well as in South American and Europe.
Mother Cabrini’s tremendous energy and sense of deep purpose helped her in serving our Lord by ministering to the material and spiritual needs of His people. She had to overcome various obstacles and trials as well as personal suffering. She died in Chicago in 1917 and in 1946 became the first naturalized American citizen to be canonized. Four years later she was named patron of immigrants. A lovely prayer that St. Frances Xavier Cabrini wrote is worth repeating as we go about our own daily lives: “Fortify me with the grace of Your Holy Spirit and give Your peace to my soul that I may be free from all needless anxiety, solicitude and worry. Help me to desire always that which is pleasing and acceptable to you so that Your will may be my will. Amen.”