3 December 2026 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15
Paul, free in Christ, made himself a slave to all in order to win more of them: a Jew to the Jews, weak to the weak. “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.” This is the missionary's freedom: not changing the gospel, but changing himself, his comfort, his language and his habits, so that others can receive it.
The risen Lord rebukes the Eleven for their unbelief and then sends them anyway: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” St Francis Xavier took those words to the letter. Sailing from Lisbon, he arrived in Goa in 1542, walked the fishing villages of South India, including the coast of Travancore, then went on to the Malay world and Japan. He died on an island off the coast of China, longing to enter it.
Theme: “Go into all the world.”
St Francis Xavier and the missionary heart.
“I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you;” Isaiah 42:6
“To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:22
Apply: Listen patiently to someone very different from you.
“Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.” Psalm 96:3
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15
Apply: Pray for a missionary from your eparchy.
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” Isaiah 35:5–6
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;” Mark 16:17
Apply: Do one work of mercy for a sick person.
The Gospel came to our shores through missionaries.
Now we are sent.
Take-home resolution: Support the missions with prayer or alms during this fast.
Dear friends, today we remember St Francis Xavier, the great missionary who preached on the coasts of South India. St Paul describes the heart of a missionary: though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:19, 22–23).
Francis Xavier lived this. He learnt the prayers in the language of the fishermen, sat with the poor, nursed the sick, and walked from village to village. He became one with the people so that they might meet Christ.
In the Gospel the risen Jesus appears to the Eleven and says: go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. And he promises signs: in my name they will cast out demons, speak in new tongues, lay hands on the sick and they will recover (Mark 16:15–18).
The mission is not finished. Many in our country and in the world have not truly heard the Gospel. Many baptised Christians have forgotten it. The Lord still says: go.
We are not all called to cross oceans, but we are all sent. A Malankara Catholic nurse in Germany, a student in Delhi, a worker in the Gulf, a farmer in Pathanamthitta: each can become all things to all people, out of love for Christ.
Let us pray today for missionaries, and for our own Church's mission in North India and abroad. And let us ask St Francis Xavier to give us his zeal and his joy. Amen.
Children, St Francis Xavier taught children prayers through songs. Teach a prayer or a hymn to a younger child today!
Lord Jesus, you sent your apostles into all the world. Through the prayers of St Francis Xavier, who preached on our shores, give us his zeal, his humility, and his love for all peoples. Amen.
On the day the Church remembers St Francis Xavier, the readings show what a missionary is. Paul changes himself, not the Gospel, so that all kinds of people can receive it. The risen Lord sends disciples whose faith he has just had to rebuke, to tell the news to the whole creation. The mission rests on Christ's sending and not on the strength of those he sends.
Setting.
Chapters 8–10 deal with a practical quarrel in Corinth: may Christians eat meat offered to idols? Paul says that knowledge is not enough; love for the weaker brother or sister must decide. In chapter 9 he gives himself as an example of someone who gives up his rights: as an apostle he could expect to be supported, yet he earns his own living. These verses state the principle behind it.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.” (9:20)
Paul is himself a Jew and proud of it (Romans 11:1). He means that he kept Jewish customs among Jews where doing so was no obstacle to the Gospel (compare Acts 16:3; 21:26).
“I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.” (9:22)
This is not saying whatever pleases people. In v. 21 Paul insists he is “under Christ’s law”, and in this same letter he rebukes the Corinthians firmly. What changes is the messenger: his habits, his comfort, his rights. The message does not change.
“I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.” (9:23)
How the Church reads it.
The Church speaks of this today as inculturation: the Gospel enters a people's culture, purifying and raising what is good in it (CCC 854; St John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio 52). St Francis Xavier lived the passage in his own way. Sailing east for the first time at 35, he had the basic prayers and commandments put into the language of the fishing people of South India, and later went on to the Malay world and Japan.
Setting.
A note on the text. These verses belong to the “longer ending” of Mark (16:9–20), which is missing from two of the oldest Greek manuscripts (Sinaiticus and Vaticanus) and differs in style from the rest of the Gospel. Many scholars therefore think it was added early by another hand. It was known by the second century and the Church receives it as inspired Scripture, part of the canon. It gathers up what the other Gospels and Acts report of the risen Lord.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” (16:15)
This comes straight after the rebuke. The Church's mission has never depended on the disciples being impressive.
“The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.” (16:16)
Faith and Baptism go together, and the Gospel calls for a decision. On those who through no fault of their own do not know Christ, see the question below.
“they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”” (16:18)
Acts reports several of these signs: tongues (Acts 2:4), demons cast out (16:18), the snake at Malta (28:3–6) and hands laid on the sick (28:8). Nothing here tells Christians to test God by handling snakes on purpose; Jesus himself refused to put God to the test (Matthew 4:7).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes v. 16 in teaching that the Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism (CCC 977), and v. 18 in teaching about the sacrament for the sick (CCC 1507). St Francis Xavier, whom Pope Pius XI named a patron of the missions in 1927 together with St Thérèse of Lisieux, took “all the world” literally: he died in 1552 on the island of Shangchuan, within sight of the China he longed to enter.
Does this mean that everyone who has not believed is condemned?
No one is condemned for what he could not know. Vatican II teaches that those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel, yet seek God sincerely and try to follow their conscience, moved by grace, may attain eternal salvation (Lumen Gentium 16; CCC 847). This never lessens the Church's duty to proclaim Christ (CCC 848).
St Francis Xavier belonged to the Latin Church, but his story touches Kerala and South India closely. He worked on the Fishery Coast and in Travancore and, according to his own letters, visited the tomb of St Thomas at Mylapore in 1545. The faith of the St Thomas Christians was far older than his coming. Today Malankara Catholics may honour him as a brother in the same mission, and ask what it means in our own time to go to those who have not yet heard.