30 November 2024 - Feast of Saint Andrew
Homily
When the disciples left everything to follow Jesus, they took a great risk. Other prophets had come shortly before who had claimed to be the Messiah, and many had followed them, only to realise later that they had been wrong. Jesus' disciples were luckier; the one they followed was the true Messiah. As a result, they often later recalled the moment when they had heard their first call, and no doubt embellished it somewhat. Each of the Evangelists recounts this first call in his own way and places it in a different context. They tend to give the impression that their response was immediate and definitive. In reality, they hesitated considerably and did not definitively abandon their occupations until after the Resurrection. But by telescoping the events into a single episode, they want to emphasise two essential points. The first is the capacity of God's call, once heard, to mobilise all human energies. The second is the authority with which Jesus chooses his disciples.
The way Jesus calls his disciples to follow him is characteristic of the new style this young rabbi wants to adopt. He did not gather them around him as other rabbis and school leaders did in his day. He would not be a master of thought sitting at his pulpit, with fervent listeners sitting at his feet. He would be an itinerant rabbi, always on the road to the poor and the wandering. From his disciples he would not so much ask for attentive ears and an enthusiastic gaze, as for a willingness to travel, to reach out to others, the courage to meet others at the very limit. Evangelisation will not be a matter of closed circuits or of people gathered in the same frame of mind around a common master. Rather, it will consist of stepping outside ourselves to meet others.
After the Resurrection and Pentecost, the two brothers Peter and Andrew set off in different directions to bring the Good News. They were both fishermen of men; in other words, they did not make disciples for themselves, but led crowds of disciples to follow Christ. Like their master, they both died crucified, Peter in Rome and Andrew in Patras, Greece.
Let us each ask for the grace to leave everything behind to follow Christ and proclaim his Gospel through the witness of our lives.
Armand Veilleux