St. Andrew, Apostle, Nov 30

  Romans 10:9-18 / Matthew 4:18-22

 Confess that Jesus is Lord: Believe that God raised Jesus from death. 

 Fred Smith was a famous biochemist at the University of Minnesota. He was also an agnostic. One day, to placate a friend, he agreed to attend a religious service. Although he disliked the singing and the sermon, he was struck deeply by one sentence from the Scripture reading: "If you confess that Jesus is lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved." Romans 10:9.

That single sentence was the seed from which grew a dynamic personal faith. Smith became a leading advocate of the Gospel on the Minnesota campus, where he held weekly Bible classes in his home. 

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Do we believe that the Gospel is "the power of God leading everyone who believes in it to salvation"? Romans 1:16 "Ignorance of the Bible means ignorance of Christ." St. Jerome 

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St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter, was a native of the town of Bethsaida in Galilee. A fisherman by profession and a disciple of St. John the Baptist, he and his brother, St. Peter, joined Jesus as members of the Apostolic College. After the dispersion of the Apostles, St. Andrew preached in Greece and several other countries. He suffered martyrdom in Patras, Greece, and, according to common opinion, by crucifixion on a cross made in the form of the letter X.

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Andrew must have been a seeker of God. He first followed John the Baptist, then, when John had pointed out Jesus he transferred to Jesus. He brought several to Jesus: his brother Simon Peter, some Greeks looking for Jesus; at the multiplication, he noticed the boy with the loaves and the fish and brought him to Jesus. Tradition says that he was an apostle in the Balkans and Southern Russia; he is the patron of the Church of Constantinople. With Andrew, let us bring people to Jesus.

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In the gospel account, we hear of Jesus calling St. Peter along with his brother St. Andrew. But there was something else about St. Andrew. In the gospel according to St. John, St. Andrew was initially a disciple of John the Baptist. And when John the Baptist pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God, Andrew, in turn, followed Him. So we can say that St. Andrew was the first disciple of Jesus. And it was St. Andrew who brought St. Peter to see Jesus, after telling him that he had found the Messiah. we can learn much from St. Andrew, especially his attitude as a disciple.  After staying with Jesus and coming to know Him, St. Andrew did not keep this experience to himself, but shared it with his brother St. Peter. So saints are not nicely sculptured statues, or just pretty colourful pictures on the stained-glass of churches.  They are common people who are open to Jesus when He came into their lives, and after experiencing Him, they also shared Him with others, just like St. Andrew did.  Let us pray that we will continue to experience Jesus daily and like St. Andrew, we will go forth to share Him with others.

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What is the mission of a disciple? Simply put, it is to bring people to Christ. Andrew excels in this role. Wherever we find him in the gospel according to John, he is bringing people to Christ. When John the Baptist pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God, Andrew left John, stayed with Jesus, and became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. What did he do then? “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus” (Jn 1:41-42). Later, when the disciples were disheartened as to how they could feed the multitude, Andrew spotted a boy with five barley loaves and two fish, and brought him to Jesus, though he wasn’t sure how it would all add up (Jn 6:9). When the Greeks came looking for Jesus, they went to Philip and Andrew, who in turn informed Jesus about the desire of the Greeks (Jn 12:20).

As the liturgical year ends today, we have an exemplary apostle who sums up the mission of the Church: bring people to Christ, and make disciples for him.

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Opening Prayer

 Lord our God, we honor today your great apostle Andrew. With him make us restless seekers for you and bring many to Jesus and to you. Let Jesus be our life and trust and when we have found Jesus, do not let us keep him to ourselves but share him with all-around with the riches of his love and forgiveness, his mercy and compassion. This we ask you through Christ our Lord.