Feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle Romans 10: 9-18; Matthew 4:18-22 There is something in us human beings that inclines us time after time to define one another as either insiders or outsiders. Sometimes the distinction is racial or ethnic, sometimes its religious, sometimes the dividing line is economic or educational or political, or slave versus free. But whatever the cause, the lines are always there and firmly drawn. This kind of thinking has even invaded the Church at times. It was not until 1839 that a pope definitively condemned slavery. It was not until the end of Vatican Council II that the Church finally rejected the idea that there could be no salvation outside its boundaries. St. Paul rejected that kind of thinking 2000 years ago, as we hear in todays epistle. There is no difference between Jew and Greek; all have the same Lord, rich in mercy to all who call upon Him. It certainly does take a long time for that truth to trickle down to the rest of us! Yet the words of Jesus in the Gospels are full of that very insight. It makes us wonder how much of the rest of Jesuss message we may have been missing! Jesus asks us to look at one another without exception through Gods eyes, and to see in each human being either a brother or a sister, a beloved child of God like ourselves, a stumbling wayfarer very much like ourselves. He asks us to extend to each of Gods children the same compassion which God our Father extends to us every day without fail. How can we say no? Very simply, we cannot! |
November 30, 2005
St. Andrew
Andrew was St. Peters brother, and was called with him. "As [Jesus] was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is now called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him" (Matthew 4:18-20). John the Evangelist presents Andrew as a disciple of John the Baptist. When Jesus walked by one day, John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus. "Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, What are you looking for? They said to him, Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are you staying? He said to them, Come, and you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day" (John 1:38-39a). Little else is said about Andrew in the Gospels. Before the multiplication of the loaves, it was Andrew who spoke up about the boy who had the barley loaves and fishes (see John 6:8-9). When the Gentiles went to see Jesus, they came to Philip, but Philip then had recourse to Andrew (see John 12:20-22). Legend has it that Andrew preached the Good News in what is now modern Greece and Turkey and was crucified at Patras. Quote:
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