The Feast of Saint Andrew
November 30, 2015 6:30am
We know very little about St.
Andrew.
In today’s gospel from St.
Matthew, it says that Jesus called Peter and his brother Andrew at the same
time.
In John’s gospel, it is Andrew
who first follows Jesus and then urges his brother Peter to be a disciple also.
The gospel says that Andrew
points out to Jesus the boy with the loaves and fishes that Jesus uses for the
feeding of the 5,000.
But other than these bits of
information, we know nothing about Andrew and perhaps the insight is right
there.
Andrew apparently was simply a steady,
faithful follower of Jesus.
He was not in the forefront but
he was outstanding in his own way.
And that was the way of steady,
day-by-day faithfulness to Jesus.
I believe that one of the ways to
live that kind of steady life is through good, daily habits.
Most of us have practical habits
or routines built into our everyday lives, as when we get up in the morning.
We also need good spiritual
habits, like:
a morning prayer dedicating the
day to God;
at the start of the day,
consciously identifying someone for whom I could do something that day, even if
it is just offering a prayer for that person;
at the end of the day, a prayer
of thanks for one specific person or thing;
and at the end of the day, a
prayer of contrition for any failure in obeying the commandments or living
fully the way of the gospel.
These are examples of good, daily
spiritual habits.
These habits help to provide a spiritual
structure for our day and eventually they help to build a lifetime of steady
faithfulness to God.
This is, I suggest, the message
of Andrew the Apostle for us.
