Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
Today is the Feast of St Andrew, Apostle. He and his brother Simon Peter were the first men whom Jesus called to be his disciples. Jesus summoned Andrew by name and called him to the vocation of Apostle. After Jesus’ Resurrection, Andrew was sent by God into specific areas to evangelize. It is no different for us! Jesus calls each of us to be his disciple and sends us into the world to share the Good News with others in our spheres of influence. Let us ask St Andrew’s intercession today for the graces we need to be bold, confident, and grateful witnesses to God’s love, mercy, and grace.
“As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea . . . He said to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’” Our Gospel doesn’t make it explicit, but I assume that Jesus called these brothers by name, because, as God, Jesus already knew them intimately. Andrew’s name in Greek means, “strong, brave, valor.” Perhaps Jesus recognized those qualities in Andrew. My name, Elizabeth Ann, means “God is my oath,” and “grace, or God has favored me.” As God calls my name, I wonder how the characteristics of my name might inform how I’m to live as Christ’s disciple. How about you? Do you believe that God calls you by name? What does your name mean, and what might its significance be to your calling?
The word “vocation,” comes from the Latin vocare and means “to call,” or “to respond to a heard voice.” We each have a vocation from God, a calling. For some, it’s to religious life; others to marriage; others to a chaste single life; some to the priesthood. Today, consider your calling. Within your specific calling, how and to what is God calling you? When you listen for God’s voice, what prompting, nudges, conviction do you hear and sense? With a vocation comes a summons. What are you being summoned to at this season of your life within your vocation?
St Andrew was an Apostle. The term Apostle means “sent one.” Like Andrew, you and I are apostles. We are the ones sent out now to this generation, into our world, into our spheres of influence. St Andrew preached in the areas around the Black Sea and in what is now Greece and Turkey. Tradition also locates him evangelizing throughout parts of Ukraine, Romania, and Russia. What is your sphere of influence? To whom is God calling you to share the Gospel with more openness, intentionality, courage, or boldness? Perhaps it’s your family, friends, workplace, school, neighbors, local community, or within your outside interests and pursuits – clubs, sports, volunteer work.
God sends us into the world to witness to the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit. At each Mass, we receive the Eucharist to fill us with Christ’s very presence and are sent forth at the close of each Mass empowered by Christ to fulfill our calling. The opening verses of our first reading today give us powerful assurance of our salvation in Christ and then concludes, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Next, St Paul continues with our summons! “But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent?”
Friends, this is our calling, this is our summons, to share the love of God and the message of salvation with others. St Andrew heard the Lord call his name and answered his summons to proclaim the Gospel. Today, God calls our names, saves us through Christ by faith, gifts us with a vocation, and sends us out so that we can gratefully share what we have received with others. All of this may sound and feel a little intimidating. After all, we aren’t St Andrew the Apostle. But let us consider how our gratitude might help us overcome our intimidation. Jesus Christ has saved us and set us free! Overwhelmed by this extravagant gift, how can we not share this glorious Good News with others, whether by our words or by our actions. “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!” Today, may your beautiful feet and mine, carry us gratefully into the world to proclaim, to love, and to serve. Amen!
Elizabeth Wells