Fr James and the Saints:

Feast of Saint Andrew

St. Andrew the Apostle, whose feast we celebrate today, shows us how our sanctity, our closeness with Christ, is meant to go beyond our own salvation. St. Andrew, like his brother Simon (who we’d all come to know as St. Peter), was a Galilean fisherman; he was certainly not part of high society, but he wasn’t on the bottom rung either. In contrast to his brother Peter, however, Andrew seemed to have a bit more of a religious bent: according to John’s Gospel, when he wasn’t working, he was hanging around and following the prophetic figure, John the Baptist. One day, the Baptist points out Jesus, calling Him, “the Lamb of God,” and so Andrew and another tentatively tail Him to figure out who this Jesus is until He turns and invites them to “come and see.” In their subsequent encounter with Christ, their eyes are opened to God’s grace like someone turning on a light to “open the eyes” of someone blundering around in a dark room. Andrew did not want to keep this newfound vision for himself, and so went to his hard-working brother, told him that he had found the promised messiah, and lead him to Jesus. In Christ, Peter would too find his eyes opened to that same guiding light.

 One of the ways St. Augustine describes his encounter with God is, “You flashed, You shown, You dispelled my blindness.” Like him and like St. Andrew, our encounter and relationship with God can open our eyes to many things, such as His great love for us and our often all-too-weak love for Him, but like the light of a lighthouse, at least now we aren’t completely blind and have a light to steer by, light by which we can reach our destination. But God calls us to more than using the light He’s given us to only save ourselves. Rather, like Andrew for his brother and like Augustine for 60+ generations of Christians, we are called to use our newfound sight to help lead others to that same saving light of an encounter with Christ, so that together, we can reach that final destination: our heavenly home.

Romans 10:14-15           

  • And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard

  • And how can they hear without someone to preach? […]

  • As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!

For more on Saint Andrew click here