30th of November

Gospel text

(Mt 4:18-22): 

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.

The Application

One of the wisest of the Lord's apostles. He invited his brother Simon to meet the Lord, and brought Nicodemus to the Lord, a true disciple of John the Baptist, who would become a disciple of Christ, according to his master's wish. He who knew how to follow Christ, will make a good connection for others, with a discernment of time and moment, to the people who seek the Lord and find Him, at the opportune moment, according to the will of his Master.

Personally, I would like to be like him, always looking for the dwelling place of God, searching for Him and once found, leading the people to Christ. From time to time, I must know how to abandon everything and empty myself, so that the Lord may fill me with his grace. It is in this emptying that He wishes to lead me towards divine richness.

Come behind me' is not just to be his disciple, but more deeply, to be his friends, his beloved. He will make me discover all that the Father would like to tell me. He is going to make me participate in his joy, and that I make his deep desire my own, that this joy be complete. It is in this joy that others become his disciples. Let us all become, in the image of Christ, by our witnessing life, bearers of the Father's joy.

Action of the day: Be a sign of God’s joy.

"I will make you fishers of men."

Prof. Dr. Mons. Lluís CLAVELL

(Roma, Italy)

Today, is St. Andrew's Day, apostle, a festivity celebrated in a solemn way amongst Eastern Orthodox Christians. He was one of the two young men that met Jesus by the river Jordan and had a long conversation with him. He first found his own brother Simon, and told him “We have found the Messiah” and he brought him to Jesus (cf. Jn 1:41-42). Shortly afterwards, Jesus called these two fishermen brothers, as we read in today's Gospel: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19). In the same village there were two other brothers, James and John, friends and chums of the first ones, and fishermen like them. And Jesus also invited them to follow him. It is nice to see how they leave everything and follow him “at once”, a word that is repeated in both cases. We cannot tell Jesus: “afterwards”, “later on”, “I'm busy now”...

To each one of us —to all Christians— Jesus is also asking every day to place at his service whatever we are and whatever we have —that means to leave everything, not to have anything of our own— so that, while Jesus is accompanying us in our professional and familial obligations, we may become “fishermen for people”. What does it mean to be “fishermen for people”? A nice answer might be a commentary by St. John Chrysostom. This Father and Doctor of the Church says that Andrew did not know how to explain to his brother Peter who Jesus was and, consequently, he “brought him to the very source of light”, that is, Jesus Christ. “To fish men” means to help all those around us, in our family and in our work, to find Christ who is the only light for our route.