30 November 2021
Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
St. Andrew, along with his brother St. Peter, listened to the law, the decree, the precept, the command, the ordinance of the Lord which the psalmist described with such tender affection, and it brought him a joy and a fulfillment that he never could have imagined: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” St. Andrew could not have known the consequences of this call, what it would be like to become a fisher of men, what lands far from Galilee and Jerusalem Jesus would lead him to go. As we learn from the other Gospels, he was the first of the apostles to be called, so he could not have even seen a growing crowd of followers around Jesus to lend credibility to Christ. Instead, by the Holy Spirit at work in his heart, St. Andrew simply recognized Jesus as the Lord whose word is perfect, trustworthy, refreshing, enlightening, true and just, precious and sweet. And he spent the rest of his life, helping others come to recognize this Lord as well. As we meditate on this first called apostle, we can ask the Lord to help us to remember our earliest encounters with Him, when He met us in prayer, in the Eucharist, in service, perhaps simply out of the blue, and we recognized Jesus for who He is. Then, we can ask, through the intercession of St. Andrew, for the grace to help others in our family and communities to come and meet Jesus too.