Saint Paul offers us a final, beautiful image to consider in our prayer with the readings this week in a quotation from Isaiah: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news! On this feast of Saint Andrew the apostle, perhaps we can imagine the feet of this fisherman from Galilee, brother of Simon Peter, and disciple of Jesus Christ.
Imagine the many miles Andrew’s feet traveled while following our Lord across Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea, and into the Decapolis, Trachonitis, and the regions of Tyre and Sidon, all the while listening to Jesus’s preaching and witnessing his miracles. Imagine, too, when Jesus washed those feet in the upper room as he entered into his Passion. Imagine when those same feet fled from the Garden of Gethsemane just a few hours later at Jesus’s betrayal. And then, imagine the many more miles that Andrew’s feet traveled bringing the Good News of the Resurrection to faraway lands—as tradition would have it, to Byzantium, through Achaea, and even as far as present-day Ukraine. And finally, imagine those feet, worn from many miles of travel, bound one day to the wood of a cross, like the feet of his Master.
As we imagine the feet of Andrew the apostle, who brought the Good News to so many, let us give thanks for the missionary footsteps of the apostles and all those who have come after them, asking that like them, we too might be tireless in proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed.