DAILY HOMILIES #Fishers of Men

Perhaps Jesus is asking me to let down my nets for a catch, yet I procrastinate and give God excuses. Trust God and obey His commands. Forget what people around you are saying. Do what is right, and God will reward you with an abundant catch—more than you would have dreamt of if you had disobeyed.

God never calls us just for our own sake. No! Whenever He calls, it is always so that we too can, in turn, call others. When God called Matthew, he brought all his friends to Jesus and there was a great party in his house. Many of those often regarded as sinners (for the sake of their job as tax-collectors) repented and started walking in the light from that day on. As Andrew went on to call Peter, Jesus desires that each one of us would bring at least one person to Him in the course of our lifetime. In truth, our mandate as Christians is to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15).

Following Jesus at all demands a certain level of letting go and breaking off from the world. As Jesus would say: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25).

Andrew was fond of introducing people to Jesus. This characteristic of Andrew is what I call basic evangelisation. Bring people to Jesus and let Him take over from there. Just as Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus, the Feast of St. Andrew introduces the Church to the season of Advent. If you notice, advent is always the closest Sunday to the feast of St. Andrew.