Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle
Saturday,
November 30, 2013
1st Reading: Rom 10:9-18
Gospel: Mt 4:18-22
As Jesus walked by the lake of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
He went on from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them. At once they left the boat and their father and followed him.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The points I suggest for our brief reflection on this feast of St. Andrew are as follows: Attentive search, Negation of self, Death, Resoluteness, Execution, and Winning follower for Jesus. They are so arranged to form the acronym “Andrew”.
Attentive search. Andrew who was a follower of John the Baptist wasted no time in moving to Jesus’ camp. Let’s waste no time then. Let’s begin the search for Jesus now by negating the self, mindful of the requisite of self-denial noted in Luke 9:23. Andrew denied himself a bright future of his own design by abandoning his profession. Come up with your own version of self-negation.
Just make sure it involves little exercises of dying so that if following Jesus should demand martyrdom you ready. Andrew was ready when crucified at Patras in Greece on an x-shaped cross. To most of us however, martyrdom is remote. Blessed John Paul II had said that to die for the faith is a gift to some but to live the faith is the calling of all.
Resoluteness is indispensable to a disciple because while the spirit may be willing the flesh can weaken and the person can backslide to his previous lifestyle. Recall Jesus’ warning to people cleansed from evil spirits. He said that the devil can come back and finding the person already cleansed marches in and occupies the person with even more cohorts this time.
Andrew’s life teaches us that discipleship does not render us passive. Andrew still remained an executive even as a follower. When there was a problem about food in the desert, he was the one who brought the solution to Jesus by bringing a boy who had five loaves and two fishes. Let us likewise be God’s executives by striving to bring answers to the prayers of the needy.
Andrew also teaches us that discipleship is not a “me-and-my-God” affair. It is essentially winning followers for Jesus. He brought several people to Jesus including his brother Peter. Like St. Andrew let us not bring people to ourselves but to God. —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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