Bringing Good News - the feet and the fingers!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

November 30, 2024: Remembering St. Andrew, the Apostle
Romans 10: 9-18; Matthew 4: 18-22

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" St.Paul quotes these words from the Scriptures (cf. Is 52:7), to insist upon the blessedness of being an apostle of the Lord, being sent to bear forth the Word to others. A prerequisite is that the person has first received the Word, in order to share it with others.

St. Andrew has played a special role during the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Andrew as a disciple of Christ always had the role of bringing good news to persons... he brought the good news of having found Christ to Peter (Jn 1:41); along with Philip, he brought the Greeks to meet Jesus (Jn 12:22); and he brought that boy who gave the five loaves to feed the five thousand (Jn 6:9). Amidst all the opposition and threat, the apostles bore witness to his name: they were the beautiful feet which brought the good news to the world.

Today, curiously, Apostle Andrew is proposed as the patron of social network... because he used every opportunity to make Christ known to people and to bring people to Christ. Pope Benedict XVI had described Social Network as the modern day pulpit and invited us to proclaim Christ not merely from the housetops but also from the laptops... and here we have a great role model for it in St. Andrew.

Let us today thank God for the numerous fingers that bring good news to the world today... keying in on the smart phones, feeding in from the laptops and desktops, posting messages and videos, instagrams and reels, and so many ways of sharing the Word with others. May every effort of these persons to proclaim the Reign of God through the Social Network, be a blessing to them, as much as it is to the world.

Let us dedicate the Social Network which offers us such a great promise, that it may forever be an instrument in the hands of God, to bring God's will to fulfillment, and not fall into the trap of becoming an instrument of perdition. Let us thank God for every opportunity that comes our way to bring the Word to all whom we meet!