First Week of Advent

Thursday of the First Week of Advent

Thursday, December 3, 2026

About today

Francis Xavier (1506–1552), companion of Ignatius Loyola, was sent to the East and died in sight of China. He baptized, preached, and wrote home with a missionary urgency that still startles. The Church keeps his memorial on 3 December, in Advent, as a man who could not stay home once he had been sent. Distance did not make the Gospel thinner. Ask today for a heart that will go, and for a Church that does not keep the Gospel as a private language.

Original – Prayer on Fire.

Scripture

Sequential New Testament

1 Thessalonians 5:16–24

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in everything. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for all of you. Do not choose to extinguish the Spirit. Do not spurn prophecies. But test all things. Hold on to whatever is good. Abstain from every kind of evil. And may the God of peace himself sanctify you through all things, so that your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved without blame unto the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who has called you is faithful. He shall act even now.

Text: Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV) · Sequential New Testament

Today's Prayers

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