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Set Your Heart on the Things of Above
Holy Inspiration of the Week
The zeal of St Francis Xavier
Feast Day: Dec 3rd
Scripture of the Week
”Lord I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed.” -Matt. 8:8
What are you full of? How deep is your faith? This passage, from the gospel of Matthew, relays to us an interaction between Jesus and a centurion. Both men have different backgrounds, political status, morals, etc., Yet, this centurion, who understands the structure of authority and the power of a single command, beseeches the healing power of Christ. The centurion then urges Him to say a mere Word, and proceeds to have total faith that his servant will then be healed.
What are you full of? Do you seek Christ in prayer and ask for His attentive care? More so, do you ACTUALLY believe that He can and will do what is truly good and beautiful? To be faithful, hopeful, joyful, etc., it is worth examining the question, “What am I full of?”
You can turn to many experiences, certain relationships, elite societal status, financial superiority, vices of pride and impurity, etc., instead of turning to Christ Crucified. During this advent season, I humbly urge you to consider what it is that you are filled by. If you are full of faith, Who is your faith in? If you are joyful, what fills you with that joy? If you are peaceful, then where does your peace come from?
The centurion from this gospel passage teaches us that despite our littleness and unworthiness, Jesus desires to heal, love, and faithfully tend to us. Do you have faith in His Heart for you?
Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. Fill us so we may be full of Your presence.
-Amen
Saint of the Week
St. Charles de Foucauld was a French missionary, explorer, and priest who lived among the Tuareg people in Algeria. After a life of spiritual searching, he devoted himself to poverty, prayer, and evangelization. He was martyred on December 1, 1916, and canonized in 2022. His legacy continues through the Little Brothers and Sisters of Jesus, inspired by his radical faith and love for Christ.
St. Charles de Foucauld was born on September 15, 1858, in Strasbourg, France, into an aristocratic family. Orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his grandfather, who provided him with a privileged but somewhat undisciplined upbringing. As a young man, Charles led a worldly life, indulging in pleasures and abandoning his faith. However, his military career and travels in North Africa would lay the groundwork for his eventual conversion.
After joining the French army, Charles became fascinated with the cultures and landscapes of the Sahara. When he resigned from the military, he embarked on an exploration of Morocco, disguised as a Jew, in order to study the land and its people. This journey sparked a deep respect for the Islamic faith and a longing for a deeper spiritual purpose.
Upon returning to France, Charles underwent a profound religious conversion in 1886. He rediscovered his Catholic faith, attributing his transformation to the influence of his cousin and the guidance of a priest. Seeking a life of radical devotion, he joined the Trappists in 1890, living in strict monastic discipline first in France and later in Syria. However, he soon felt called to an even deeper solitude and intimacy with God.
Leaving the Trappist order in 1897, Charles traveled to the Holy Land, where he lived as a humble servant for the Poor Clares in Nazareth. There, he developed a spirituality centered on imitating the hidden life of Jesus in Nazareth—living in obscurity, simplicity, and prayer. In 1901, he was ordained a priest and returned to the Sahara, choosing to settle in Beni Abbès, Algeria.
Charles envisioned a new form of evangelization—not through preaching, but through presence. He sought to live among the people as a "universal brother," offering hospitality, charity, and quiet witness to Christ’s love. He later moved deeper into the desert, settling among the Tuareg people in Tamanrasset. He learned their language, recorded their culture, and worked tirelessly to improve their lives. He compiled a Tuareg-French dictionary, studied their traditions, and sought to build bridges between Christianity and Islam.
Despite his desire to evangelize, Charles was never able to establish a formal religious community during his lifetime. He lived alone in extreme poverty, dedicating himself to prayer, study, and serving those around him. His dream was to form a fraternity of believers who would live in deep communion with both Christ and their neighbors, especially the poor.
On December 1, 1916, Charles was killed by a group of local bandits during a raid in Tamanrasset. His death was a tragic but fitting culmination of his life—offered in total surrender to God and in solidarity with those he sought to serve.
Guiding Catechism of the Week
Dignity of the human person and formation of the conscience
The sources of the human action are the object, intention, and circumstance. These three elements formulate the morality the human acts depends upon. Each entity is very important to the moral evaluation of human action because they together they produce a concrete compass in deciphering good and evil. "The object chosen morally specifies the act of the will, insofar as reason recognizes and judges it to be or not to being conformity with the true good." (CCC, 1751) In comparison to the object, one can easily see that the intention resides in the source of voluntary action, "Intention is not limited to directing individual action, but can guide several actions toward one and the same purpose" (CCC, 1752) The circumstance provides the blueprints that are reviewed to analyze the intent versus the position as seen in (CCC, 1754) "Circumstance of themselves cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves; they can make neither good nor right an action that is in itself evil." Thus the object, intention, and circumstance consider and evaluate morality of human acts.
In the formation of conscience, the conscience must be guided responsibly so as to obtain distinguish moral judgment. One can easily see that the virtues are an invitation to what is upright and truthful. Similarly, as stated in the Catechism 1783, "A well formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgement according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator." Thus, virtue plays a key role in guiding the conscience along the path of morality.
