Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians. Again and again I have thought of going around the universities of Europe, especially Paris, and crying out to the scholars: "What a tragedy: how many souls are being shut out of heaven, thanks to you!"
This thought would certainly stir most of them to listen actively to what God is saying to them. They would forget their own desires and give themselves over entirely to God's will and his choice. They would cry out with all their heart: "Lord, here am I! Send me. Send me anywhere you like -- even to India!"
What would it profit a man to gain the whole world if he lose his soul in the process? Mark 8:36
COMPARE TO:
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race. Romans 9:3
But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written. Exodus 32:32
Paul and Moses would have given up their souls for much less than the whole world. Merely for their own brethren. But, God rejected their self-denial (or whatever they were trying to do).
CONTRAST
Love your neighbor as yourself. Mark 12:31 (see also Lev. 19:18, Luke 10:27)
TO
In humility, esteem others other above yourself. Philippians 2:3
Didn’t Moses and Paul esteem others above themselves? Or, what?
And, as for St. Francis Xavier, what’s up with him working himself to death, if that is what he did. Isn’t this also the story of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the beloved Little Flower. Didn’t she die young, actually very young, having neglected herself? If these saints loved others as they love themselves, would they want everybody to die of overwork and of neglect of their own physical needs?