Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle

Readings of the Day 

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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