November 30, 2017

St. Andrew, apostle

Mt 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. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”

Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Putting down my nets

St. Ignatius invites us to use our imaginations to pray ourselves right into the Gospels. By using all of our senses, we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel the story unfold. When I pray with today’s text, I imagine myself as Zebedee, in my boat on the Sea of Galilee with my sons. I see Jesus walking along the shore. I feel the breeze blowing across the water. I smell the wet fishing nets.

Suddenly, I hear Jesus calling to Peter and Andrew, to James and John, “Come, follow me!” I watch as all four immediately leave what they are doing and follow Jesus. And I think, “Yo, guys—what about me? What am I supposed to do with this boat all by myself?”

Finally I wonder, what is God calling me to do? Today. Now. Am I ready to “put down my nets” and respond wholeheartedly to God’s call?

—Michael Sarafolean is an Ignatian Associate in St. Paul, MN, and a member of Saint Thomas More Catholic Community, the Jesuit parish of the Twin Cities.

Prayer

Lord, grant me the grace to know you more intimately, to love you more intensely, and so to follow you more closely.

—Based on Spiritual Exercise #140 of St. Ignatius of Loyola