Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle
Scripture:
Romans 10:9-18
Matthew 4:18-22
Reflection:
Did you know that half the bones in our body are in our feet? Amazing things, our feet. They enable us to stand and not fall over. With our feet we dance, play football, or kick the can. Some people stand in the footlights, get a foothold, or are just footloose.
There are footmen, foot soldiers, and footnotes. Sometimes we put our best foot forward, put our foot in your mouth, foot the bill, or live in the foothills.
Amazing things, our feet. The most amazing thing about feet, be they small or big, dainty or calloused, is that they can be…the feet of Christ. It was Teresa of Avila who said that. She said,
“Christ has no body but yours…
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.”
In our first reading today from Isaiah, we heard the words, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings.” (Isaiah 52:7)
Today we honor St. Andrew who was the first to hear and answer the Call of Jesus and walk with him. St Andrew would eventually go on to use his feet to bring good tidings to many places. How beautiful was that!
According to Wikipedia, “Eusebius in his church history 3,1 quoted Origin as saying that Andrew preached in Scythia. The Chronicle of Nestor states that he preached along the Black Sea and the Dnieper river as far as Kiev, and from there he traveled to Novgorod. Hence, he became a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia.”
May the example of St. Andrew inspire us to walk with Jesus. May we go forth each day using our feet (and our hands, eyes and bodies) in the service of the gospel. “Christ has no body now but yours.”
Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California. http://www.alanphillipcp.com/