“COME AFTER ME, AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN.” MT 4:18-22
Humbly submit your will to God (thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Prayer Prompt before reading MT 4:18-22: Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray, interpret the Scriptures for me so that I may know the Truth about who God the Father and God the Son are so that I may know who I am.
Feast of St. Andrew, 1st Apostle called, 1st feast on the new Church calendar
God the Father is radically in love with His creation, us. He chases after us everyday. He sent His only Son, Jesus, who calls us everyday. How do we respond? He is found in every soul you encounter, every prayer, every spiritual book, in confession, and every consecrated host. How do you respond?
Since He died for us and resurrected we have hope. He gave us sanctifying grace, an intellect and a will, the Sacraments and the Mass, to each one of us individually a role in the Church with specific physical and spiritual gifts (just like each apostle had different gifts). We are allowed to speak directly to God’s heart through prayer. We have everything we need right inside us and in front of us.
How will you respond? You have the ability to set the world on fire by being who God created you to be (St. Catherine of Siena). Respond to God’s call with vigilance and no fear! Set the world on fire by lighting the fire within you and starting with your own life and in your own home.
Today, St. Andrew earns the first spot on the new Church calendar, (Sunday cycle C for 2024-2025, Cycle 1 Daily Mass) as he does every year. He is actually the first apostle called, not his brother Peter. Andrew was a very close follower to John the Baptist. John let him know that Jesus was the One, the Messiah, whom John was made to prepare the way for,
“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,[a] who takes away the sin of the world.” JN 1:29 Andrew then ran after Jesus and asked him where he was staying. The rest is history. When is the last time you have had an encounter with Jesus? He is always present and waiting.
It requires an open heart and mind, seeking Truth, listening in silence and writing reflections in a journal. The problem is we are either too distracted, think we don’t need a Savior because life is going pretty good, or we don’t want to get too close to God because He will ask us to die to self and allow him to transform us!
Today’s challenge: Celebrate the new Church Year by setting a goal to convert one area of your life that needs the most work. Advent is a time of waiting. What helps us to learn how to wait? Fasting. It may be that you need to do something instead of give something up. As Mother Teresa says, “It is not how much we accomplish, but how much love we put into each act.” Keep on loving! One simple act of love each day could transform a life, a family, a parish, a community!
Be a servant, be a saint today!
#Christian YODO (You Only Die Once; We will rise again!)
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