Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle

Reflection based on Matthew 4: 18 -22

They Left Their Nets

When Jesus called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew to be fishers of men, "they left their nets and followed him." Following Jesus requires leaving things behind. It's not that the nets caused Simon Peter and Andrew to sin. Rather, something much greater was awaiting them, something that would make them grow.

Andrew, whose name means "manly" or "courageous," found the courage to leave his nets and be a true man of the Gospel. Some years ago, a man entered religious life and knew of someone who received that apostle's name and the name reminds him of the courage needed to leave behind what is uneccessary so as to be an evangelical man.

During the season of Advent, we think about how Christ comes into our lives and calls us anew. What should we leave behind? All of us are called to spiritual maturity -- to put aside things that appear childish compared to the hope of our call. Saint Paul says, "When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think like a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things" (1 Cor 13:11).

Like the apostles, we leave behing unneccessary things for the joy of following Jesus. He is all that we need!

Father Andrew Hofer, O.P.

Almighty Father, pour forth your Holy Spirit on me so that I may have the courage to leave behind what is unneccessary and to follow Jesus wherever he goes.

Prayer by Saint Anselm of Canterbury

Look upon us, Lord,
hear and enlighten us,
show us your very self.
Restore yourself to us
that it may go well with us
whose life is so evil without you.
Take pity on our efforts and our striving toward you,
for we have no strength apart from you.
Teach me to see you,
and when I seek you show yourself to me,
for I cannot seek you unless you teach me,
nor can I find you unless you show yourself to me.
Let me seek you in desiring you
and desire you in seeking you,
find you in loving you
and love you in finding you.

First Monday of Advent

Reflection based on Matthew 8: 5 -11

In the Hope of Grace

There is a story of two priests who were speaking about their respective blood brothers, both of whom had strayed from the Catholic faith. One remarked, “I have been praying for my brother for fifteen years and I’m beginning to lose hope.” The other responded, not without wisdom, “I’ve been praying for my brother for twenty-five years, and I am beginning to hope.”

The message of the parable is important: when our hearts are tested by the secularism around us (or within us), prayer for others is related to our hope in the power and presence of God’s grace. Our hope can be tried, but such trials are also related to our own progressive conversion, and therefore serve to our spiritual benefit.

The confession of faith by the Roman centurion in Matthew’s Gospel reminds us that the grace of God can sometimes be at work in hidden or invisible ways in the depths of our neighbours, even in those who are initially ignorant of the Gospel, hostile to it, or estranged from the Church.

Advent is a season of hope in the promises of God, hope for the conversion of ourselves and of others. We should pray ardently, for this great good, and allow hope in Christ to change us. For who are we to underestimate the power of the grace of God?

Father Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

Loving Father, make us faithful witnesses to the presence of your merciful grace, and convert the world to the saving power of your love, for in you alone is our hope of salvation.

First Sunday of Advent 2010

Our Hearts Cry Out for You

If We don't seek to recognize Christ now, then his first coming is a sentimental story, and his promised second coming is an abstract future that doesn't affect or concern us in the present. Those who recognize Christ eat and drink and are given in marriage like our neighbors. However, we recognize that these and all of our human activities are signs that point to the Presence of God who became human and promised to remain with his Church.

In becoming human, Jesus shows us that our humanity is not an obstacle to our communion with God, but rather the only path to our divine destiny. When our hearts are most awake they are most aware of their need for the face of the Father which takes flesh in the Son, and thus they are most prepared to rejoice at this coming. If our hearts are not begging "Come, Lord Jesus' in our ordinary life today, then we cannot pretend to have recognized him when he first came, and we cannot expect truly to welcome him at his glorious return.

That is why the Church gives us the season of Advent, to recognize the longing in our hearts for a salvation which we cannot give ourselves, but for which we can beg today and forever, "Come, Lord Jesus".

Father Richard Veras (taken from The Magnificat Advent Companion)

God Our Father, you have etched your divine image into the infinite longings of the human heart. May we recognize Jesus as the divine destiny of our human desire.