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Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle

Readings of the Day 
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At first read, today's Gospel wasn't that inspiring to me.
Jesus walked by the sea and invited some guys to follow him. Since I
know the story, I know great things are coming but the beginning is
not too exciting. Obviously, the call to follow Jesus is important.
Jesus has called each of us to follow Him and He has given those of us
in social ministry a very specific call.

But later I read it again slowly, deliberately, phrase by phrase.
"At once they left their nets..." "Immediately
they left their boat..." It did not matter that they were
busy doing other things. They immediately followed Jesus. How we
respond to His call is the key - professionally as well as
personally. Professionally, so much of what we do needs our immediate
attention. We need to take care of things at once. Often, this
immediate need for our attention is not convenient. But because we
"believe with the heart" (Rom 10:9) and have responded to
the invitation, we can do God's work. 

On a personal level we need to be able to direct our attention toward
Jesus no matter what busyness is in our lives. To answer His
invitation requires action on our part. We need to be able to
immediately and at once know that we are His and follow him in big and
small ways.

So, my prayer for all of us is that we can leave the busyness of our
lives, as Andrew and the others did, so we can focus on Jesus and
follow Him more closely this Advent.

Chris Austgen is the Coordinator of Parish Social Ministry at Mary
Queen Catholic Church in Friendswood, Texas and is a member of the
Catholic Charities USA Parish Social Ministry Leadership Team. She is
also the National Director of La Salette Laity. Outside of church work
she and her husband enjoy spending time with their four kids and two
grandkids.




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