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Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
Isaiah 29:17-24
Psalm 27:1,4,13-14
Matthew 9:27-31
Summary
In this brief gospel of Matthew, Jesus walks along the Sea of Galilee,
and calls to Peter (Simon) and Andrew, and promises to make them
“fisher of men”. He calls also to James and John, who leave their father
in the middle of fishing and join the other three.
Reflection
While brief, the kernel in this gospel is that Jesus calls to these men
while they are in the midst of their daily tasks. They are fishermen, do-
ing their jobs. He simply calls, and they come. These men are not at
temple, or at some special holy event, or even listening to Jesus during
one of his sermons.
If these men could stop everything to join Jesus, I ask myself if it is too
much that we be called by him during our days and simply remember
him. Simply be thankful, or prayerful, or gracious. I do not flatter my-
self into thinking that I am special in any way. But when people ask me
if I pray, my answer is “Yes, daily, and usually several times a day”. I
try to stop and thank my Lord for my employment, my healthy children,
my home. Or I simply throw a “Dear Lord” to the heavens, and know
that God knows what I need. True, there are plenty of days when I
don’t do that. But I never think it is too much. And it helps me!
My father, when gathering a gaggle of five complaining children off to
Mass every Sunday, would say to us “Is
one hour a week too much to give to our
Lord, to thank him for everything we
have?” Given that we went to Catholic
schools, and religion classes, etc., I used to