Saint Francis Xavier, born in Spain 1506, spent much of his life travelling. He traversed in Europe, South Asia and East Asia on mission trips, preaching the gospel. Travel during the Early Modern period was no easy feat, it was only in 1497 that Vasco da Gama made history discovering the first direct maritime route between Europe and Goa before Saint Francis Xavier preached the gospel there as part of a mission in 1541. What I find very important to note about Saint Francis Xavier was the tact to respect and integrate amongst other cultures during a time of brutal European colonialism and invasion. Missionary work can often be conflated or entangled with forced conversion, however, Saint Francis Xavier actually fought against the exploitation of native populations by Europeans. The conversion of hearts is most important to the Catholic faith, and this can’t be done forcefully. If anything, you surrender to God alone. And this will be a joyful thing. During Advent, I do encourage all of us to spend time with different groups of people, indiscriminately, and think about how we can share the Gospel with them. Not through our own means but through leaning into them.