Gospel: November 30, 2023

(Thursday) Feast of St. Andrew, The Apostle

Psalter: Proper / (Red)

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 19: 8, 9, 10, 11

The Judgements of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.

1st Reading: Romans 10: 9-18You are saved, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and, in your heart, you believe that God raised him from the dead. By believing from the heart, you obtain true righteousness; by confessing the faith with your lips, you are saved. For Scripture says: No one who believes in him will be ashamed. Here, there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; all have the same Lord, who is very generous with whoever calls on him. Truly, all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

But how can they call upon the name of the Lord without having believed in him? And how can they believe in him, without having first heard about him? And how will they hear about him, if no one preaches about him? And how will they preach about him, if no one sends them? As Scripture says: How beautiful are the feet of the messenger of good news. Although, not everyone obeyed the good news, as Isaiah said: Lord, who has believed in our preaching? So, faith comes from preaching, and preaching is rooted in the word of Christ.

I ask: Have the Jews not heard? But, of course, they have. Because the voice of those preaching resounded all over the earth, and their voice was heard, to the ends of the world.

Gospel: Matthew 4: 18-22As 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.

Reflection:“To bring people to Jesus.”

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Andrew, one of the twelve Apostles. I’ve always felt bad for Andrew. He was among Jesus’ first disciples, along with his brother Peter and his business partners, James and John. Yet when Jesus pulls a small group of Apostles aside—for the raising of Jairus’ daughter, at the Transfiguration, and in the Garden of Gethsemane—Andrew is not included. I wonder if he felt left out.

Andrew appears most in John’s Gospel. Every time he is mentioned, he is doing the same thing: bringing people to Jesus. He brings his brother Peter to Jesus. He brings the boy with the five loaves and the two fish. He brings to Jesus some Greeks who wanted to meet him. That makes Andrew an Apostle well worth emulating.

As missionary disciples, each of us is called to evangelize. The entire point of evangelization is to bring people to Jesus. We share the Good News to help people encounter Jesus so that they can love him and live with him forever. Saint Andrew, pray for us.