November 30 

ST. ANDREW, APOSTLE


     St. Andrew was one of the 12 Apostles whom Jesus personally picked.  He was a brother of St. Peter.  He was born in Bethsaida, one of the towns where Jesus ministered.  

     Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist; he was hungry for God, even before he’d met Jesus.  He left John and sought out Jesus after John said of our Lord, “Behold the Lamb of God”.  Andrew was the first Apostle that Jesus called.

     It was Andrew who introduced his brother Peter to Jesus, telling him “We have found the Messiah”.  I want to be a better Andrew; I want to tell people better, “We have found the Messiah”.  

     When Jesus was preaching to thousands, in a remote place east of Sea of Galilee, Andrew brought a boy to Jesus who had five loaves of bread and two fish, which Jesus multiplied.

     On the Mount of Olives, someone remarked to Jesus how impressive the great Temple was.  Jesus responded that the time would soon come when there was no longer one stone left on another.  It was Andrew, backed up by Peter, James, & John, who asked Jesus, “When will this be?”  We know that the Temple was destroyed about 40 years later, in AD 70.  There still is not one stone left on another.

     Having gone into Jerusalem shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion, Andrew and Philip, the two Apostles with Greek names, were approached by some Greek-speaking gentiles who wanted to meet Jesus.  They brought them to Jesus.  May we do the same.

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     After Jesus' death and resurrection, Andrew preached in Turkey, Russia and Greece.  He brought many people to the faith, and planted many churches.  Later some of his relics were brought to Scotland, and today
Andrew is the patron saint of all four of those countries.

     Andrew died by crucifixion.  Like his brother Peter, he thought it was too good for him to be killed as Jesus had been, so he asked the executioners to crucify him on a cross different from that of Jesus. They killed him on an X-shaped cross.  To this day, the X shape is known as St. Andrew's cross.  It appears on the national flags of Scotland and Greece, and used to appear on the flags of Russia and Turkey.  Even on Great Britain's flag, the union jack is a composite of a regular cross and St. Andrew's cross.

     St. Andrew teaches us that if we suffer because of our faith in Christ, the cross we bear has nobility and eternal value—it is a splinter of Jesus’ cross.  

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