A reading from the holy Gospel of Matthew 4: 18-22

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea;  for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."  20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.  21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.  22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

REFLECTION: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." 

Today is the feast of St  Andrew.  St Andrew first met Jesus in the early morning of the day casting nets for fish.  Jesus  saw Andrew and called out to him, " Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." 

It appears Andrew was ready to follow Jesus and he invited his older  brother Simon ( Peter)  to come and join as well. They were asked to bring people to the kingdom of God. Though Andrew knew of Jesus through John the Baptist, he was not anticipating to be called by God at that very moment. A smelly fishermen!! He was asked to drop everything and go work for the Lord.  Are we ready when we get called?

God does the calling and bidding.  He has told us and we have seen over and over again, that God chooses the common  ordinary one, and  will shape us and teach us to work for him.  God finds us  and he will show us how to work through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

We will be his missionaries bringing many to his kingdom. 

We are called to be fishers of men.  God has called every single one of us for his service.  We,  in PAPA , were called as well to go out and make disciples of all nations  (Matthew 28: 18,20.) --The Lord's Mandate has become Our Mission.

Two thousand years ago the Lord walked the shores of the Sea of Galilee and was calling his disciples. And now in 2018, Jesus is still calling us. He has indeed 'risen from the dead and he lives in the Church and with us'.   (PAPA  Handbook, p 6).  Have we heard his challenge and are we willing to give ourselves to his service?  Are we willing to come as we are, to work for the Lord, for his kingdom, letting people know of our mission.  We, in particular, pray for our Priests, who  are the living and transparent image of Christ 

 We pray for the' St Andrews of the world'--disciples  who bring Jesus to others . Priests bring Jesus to others  through their preachings, their reflections on scriptures, their retreats , and counselling during confessions and absolving us of our sins  and the penultimate gift--the MASS--Jesus .

Do we show Jesus to others so that they too can fall in love with God?  Do we let others see the light of God by the way we live, talk,  and witness ? We believe that Jesus is  always with us and we pray always to be with Jesus. May we , like St Andrew, speak to others about God , pray for our neighbors, co workers, relatives  and be willing to go where God wants us to go. 

If God calls now, are you ready to respond?

Have mercy on us, Jesus. 

Pray for priests 

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