The Holy Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St. Andrew. Every Catholic man can grow in happiness by building the Virtue of Charity so he can draw closer to Jesus Christ and draw many to Him and by growing in the Virtue of Piety so he can always seek the intercession of the Saints to guide and help him in daily struggles in the Spiritual Combat.
Liturgy
Feast of St. Andrew – November 30 – Mt 4:18-22
Commentary
Following the miraculous manifestation of God at Jesus’ baptism and His grueling 40-day ordeal in the wilderness, Jesus emerges from the wilderness and learns that John the Baptist has been arrested. Jesus returns to the region of Galilee, first to His home-town of Nazareth and then relocates to the larger and more-important trading town of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee.
The calling of the first Apostles by Jesus is stunning for a number of reasons. Acting more like a King than a rabbi, Jesus calls His men to Himself; traditionally, men would choose the rabbi they wished to follow. Rather than finding a following among the learned or well-connected, Jesus calls ordinary working-class men, men with no formal education or connections to wealth or power. It is also striking, with only a simple call by Christ, that all four of these Apostles (Peter, Andrew, James and John) immediately follow, leaving their livelihoods and possessions (their nets and boats); remarkably, James and John even leave their father Zebedee.
Though a Jew, Andrew’s name is Greek from the Greek word “Andreas”, meaning “manly.” Andrew was close to Jesus; he is mentioned at key points of the Gospels including the Feeding of the 5000, in soliciting Christ’s observation that the massive Temple would be destroyed and in seeking to bring Greeks to Christ during Passion Week, a preview of Andrew’s evangelization of the Greeks in the years to come. After Christ’s Ascension, tradition holds that St. Andrew was an apostle to the Greeks and that he was martyred by crucifixion on an X-shaped cross (the St. Andrew Cross) in the Greek city of Patras. St. Andrew’s relics continue to be venerated in Patras, Greece, Amalfi, Italy, and Edinburgh, Scotland.
Be awed by Jesus Christ
Marvel at how Jesus, Divine King and greatest Leader, with mysterious Divine Knowledge, recruits men who appear to be unexceptional (lowly fisherman), who are immediately compelled by the powerful Charisma of Jesus to leave everything (families, homes, work), and who will go on to carry out exceptional heroic acts of evangelization and martyrdom, which fundamentally change world history as they build Christ’s Holy Catholic Church.
Draw closer to Jesus and draw many to Him
Realize: John’s Gospel (Jn 1:36-42) reveals that in Andrew’s search for the Messiah, he followed John, but then was the first Apostle to follow Jesus after hearing John’s revelation that Jesus was “the Lamb of God.” Andrew is called the Protoclete (“the first called”) who, once converted in faith, brings his brother Simon Peter to Jesus, an astounding act of evangelization because Peter then goes on to be the first pope of the Holy Catholic Church.
Believe: Reflect upon man’s Search for God (CCC 26-30, 843, 1501, 2566).
Pray: St. Andrew, Glorious Protoclete, pray that I grow in the Virtue of Charity so I persevere in my search for God, I love and am drawn closer to Jesus, and I imitate your zeal by evangelizing and drawing many others to Jesus and His Holy Catholic Church.
Seek the intercession of the Saints
Realize: In the Communion of Saints, every Catholic man is blessed to be able to strive to imitate and seek the intercession of the Saints, the greatest human beings who have ever lived.
Believe: Reflect upon the Communion of the Saints (CCC 946-962, 2683) and Patron Saints (CCC 2156, 2165).
Pray: St. Andrew, pray that I grow in the Virtue of Piety (a part of Justice) so I honor the Saints and I develop a veneration for those Saints who can help in my own particular struggles in the Spiritual Combat.