Francis had it all. Rich Spanish parents. He was bright, good looking, and popular. He was making the most of the college experience at the University of Paris - interested more in the right clothes, the right parties than anything else.
Everything was great when suddenly his roommate started acting strange. Peter was a good friend, and they got along well. He studied more and was a little more serious.
But just recently he had started tutoring an old man, Ignatius. Why was that guy at the University in the first place? He didn't even know Latin and was almost old enough to be their father!
...
As he sailed around the tip of Africa, the waves, the water - it was an adventure. New countries, new cultures, new people, and new opportunities, the world opened before him.
He had a message to share, and India was hungry for it. He wouldn't stop there either. Further East, Japan and China were waiting. There were so many that he needed to reach.
...It all went back to that dinner. The words still rang out clearly in his mind! "Tell me, Francis, 'What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?'" Struck to the heart, it was his undoing.
He couldn't continue waste his life on the clothes and parties in Paris while his soul and so many others thirsted for real meaning, for Christ. St. Francis Xavier had to join Ignatius, even if it would still take some convincing. He had to be a part of the Company of Jesus, and go out to change the world.
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