Feast of the Saint Andrew, the Apostle

Christ lives in you, his mission continuous through you

Like any of the Apostle, Andrew does not have any outstanding qualification that makes him in any way eligible to be an apostle. Yet the Lord called him into his close circle of friends and entrusted him with the noble task of proclaiming the Good News of Salvation. This is the mystery of the Apostolic calling: out of God’s graciousness and kindness he called individuals not because they are the best and most worthy but rather the Lord filled them with his love and blessings. And this is open for all who is ready and willing to entrust themselves to the Lord. The only thing needed is our full cooperation and yes to the Lord for God will do the rest.
Being an apostle of the Lord does not mean doing complicated things like going to some far away place and meeting different kind of people. The Apostle Andrew has shown us that it is simply bringing someone to Jesus. The Scriptures recorded two occasions during which Andrew brought someone to Jesus.

FIRST, in the Gospel of John, hearing from John the Baptist that Jesus is the Lamb of God, Andrew followed Jesus right away and latter brought his brother Simon to Lord. SECOND, later in the same Gospel of John, some Greeks came to Philip looking for Jesus, he told Andrew and they together told and brought them to the Lord.

These two occasions in a very simple incident tells us very strongly what an APOSTLE of Jesus should be, that is, one that brings people to JESUS. To bring someone to Jesus a person need not do complicated things in his life. That person simply needs to be him or herself, to be true to oneself.

When Andrew brought Peter to Jesus, I do not think he did other things than be a brother to Peter. Andrew simply and plainly told Peter that he had seen the Messiah. It was an honest admission of Andrew to his brother Peter, that at last he found the desire of his heart, the Messiah. Today, the call remains the same for us, like Andrew we are called to share our faith, the desire of our heart to our own family, to the people very close to our hearts, to our dear friends.

The Greeks were foreigners, strangers from the point of view of Andrew. They are the people unrelated to him. Yet when they came to him through Philip he showed them his kindness by telling and bringing them to the Lord. This is also our call, to show others the way to Jesus. That in the many strangers we meet who came across our way we are called to show them Jesus. Interestingly, it does not demand anything more from us than to be truly who we are as Christians. By faithfully living out and witnessing to our Faith in Christ, others will recognize in us Jesus and come to believe in Him.

Sisters and brothers, whatever we do in life and wherever we are as long as we live out our faith and we are faithful to Christ we can be an Apostle like Andrew. Let us then be an Apostle who brings our brothers and sisters, friends and family to Christ. Let our witnessing and faithfulness to Christ also lead others to Christ. As one saying goes, “Christ lives in you, his mission continuous through you.”

Feast of Saint Paul, the Apostle

Feast of Saint Paul, the Apostle

One skeptic posed a challenge about the resurrection of Christ: “Can you prove that Jesus is alive and is risen from the dead?” A lawyer replied: “Yes, by considering how the lives of others were deeply affected by the fact of his resurrection.”

Here the lawyer is referring to circumstantial evidence. In saying thus, he is telling us that there is resurrection because many people were changed, reformed, that is, they were deeply affected by the resurrection. Eventhough we have not witnessed ourselves the event of the resurrection by looking at those people affected by it, we can say that indeed, the resurrection did happen.

In particular, the conversion of Paul tells us that truly resurrection happened. The converted Paul who preached the Good News of salvation from Jerusalem, to the whole of the Mediterranean world is one convincing testimony of the truths of our faith--that Jesus is alive and have risen from the dead.

Actually, Paul did not meet nor see Jesus in his lifetime. What he had is the vision he experienced on the road to Damascus. Yet his zeal and dedication in spreading the Gospel equals that of the Apostles who were with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry to his death on the cross. That is why, Paul acquired for himself the name, Apostle to the Gentiles.
It is rather awkward to say that the life of Paul is an evidence of the Resurrection because it is like saying that Resurrection could not stand on its own, that it needs Paul to become convincing and be accepted in faith. What is rather proper is to say that the Resurrection was the one that empowers Paul . It is the fact that Jesus is alive and risen, or simply Jesus who puts the fire and all the energy in Paul to be such a great missionary and herald of the Good News to the ends of the world. Without Christ, his works are all in vain.

All of us in a way are like Paul. We too have not seen Jesus alive and walking in the face of the earth. What we have and hold on to is similar to what Paul had, a vision of Jesus alive which today we identify as religious experience. For us, it is the best and most valuable wealth, the best thing that we could ever have. We stubbornly cling to it, telling the rest that we cannot live without it, for Jesus is our HOPE. As we journey through life, it is Jesus who gives us the confidence that in the end we will rest in the Father’s embrace. SPE SALVI. “In hope we were saved” said Paul in his letter to the Romans.

Feast of the Saint Andrew, the Apostle

Christ lives in you, his mission continuous through you

Like any of the Apostle, Andrew does not have any outstanding qualification that makes him in any way eligible to be an apostle. Yet the Lord called him into his close circle of friends and entrusted him with the noble task of proclaiming the Good News of Salvation. This is the mystery of the Apostolic calling: out of God’s graciousness and kindness he called individuals not because they are the best and most worthy but rather the Lord filled them with his love and blessings. And this is open for all who is ready and willing to entrust themselves to the Lord. The only thing needed is our full cooperation and yes to the Lord for God will do the rest.
Being an apostle of the Lord does not mean doing complicated things like going to some far away place and meeting different kind of people. The Apostle Andrew has shown us that it is simply bringing someone to Jesus. The Scriptures recorded two occasions during which Andrew brought someone to Jesus.

FIRST, in the Gospel of John, hearing from John the Baptist that Jesus is the Lamb of God, Andrew followed Jesus right away and latter brought his brother Simon to Lord. SECOND, later in the same Gospel of John, some Greeks came to Philip looking for Jesus, he told Andrew and they together told and brought them to the Lord.

These two occasions in a very simple incident tells us very strongly what an APOSTLE of Jesus should be, that is, one that brings people to JESUS. To bring someone to Jesus a person need not do complicated things in his life. That person simply needs to be him or herself, to be true to oneself.

When Andrew brought Peter to Jesus, I do not think he did other things than be a brother to Peter. Andrew simply and plainly told Peter that he had seen the Messiah. It was an honest admission of Andrew to his brother Peter, that at last he found the desire of his heart, the Messiah. Today, the call remains the same for us, like Andrew we are called to share our faith, the desire of our heart to our own family, to the people very close to our hearts, to our dear friends.

The Greeks were foreigners, strangers from the point of view of Andrew. They are the people unrelated to him. Yet when they came to him through Philip he showed them his kindness by telling and bringing them to the Lord. This is also our call, to show others the way to Jesus. That in the many strangers we meet who came across our way we are called to show them Jesus. Interestingly, it does not demand anything more from us than to be truly who we are as Christians. By faithfully living out and witnessing to our Faith in Christ, others will recognize in us Jesus and come to believe in Him.

Sisters and brothers, whatever we do in life and wherever we are as long as we live out our faith and we are faithful to Christ we can be an Apostle like Andrew. Let us then be an Apostle who brings our brothers and sisters, friends and family to Christ. Let our witnessing and faithfulness to Christ also lead others to Christ. As one saying goes, “Christ lives in you, his mission continuous through you.”