“We have found the Messiah (which interpreted means Christ). And he led him to Jesus.” (John 1:41-42).
I have been thinking about Saint Andrew, the apostle…
He started so slowly.
Firstly, he followed Saint John the Baptist as a disciple. Then, he noticed Christ. Then, Saint John the Baptist told him to get cracking and to follow the true Messiah, and he did. And then, he was not slow at all. THEN, he was revolutionary and immediate…
The day he first heard Christ he ran back to his brother and dragged him along – I have found the Messiah. Come and hear Him speak… “We have found the Messiah (which interpreted means Christ). And he led him to Jesus.” (John 1:41-42).
And I have been reflecting on this…
“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 fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 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. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.” (Matthew 4:18-22).And I have been thinking about that today, because that is what God wants – an immediate reaction… Saint Andrew prepared himself slowly so that when God finally called him, he would be ready to respond immediately. And I wonder about myself… Am I ready for an immediate response? Am I ready to get started straight away…?
For the right time for God is NOW…
There is a legend about Saint Andrew’s death… It is said that Saint Andrew – like his brother Saint Simon Peter – declared that he was unworthy to be crucified on a cross like Christ’s and so instead, he was crucified on an X-shaped cross… When he saw it, legend has it that Saint Andrew said, “O good Cross, made beautiful by the Body of the Lord: long have I desired you, ardently have I loved you, unceasingly have I sought you out; and now you are ready for my eager soul. Receive me from among men and restore me to my Master, so that He – who, by means of you, in dying redeemed me – may by you receive me.”
And that reaction too was immediate. But immediate reactions are made slowly through diligence and discipline and continuous application of things. And today, I pray for the Grace to be able to slowly prepare for the immediate – for it is often far more entertaining to give up on that opportunity and option because instead of that we have the opportunity to simply push forward with a different possibility that is just so much easier to bear. The dilemma then, is that without that slow preparation – those years studying with Saint John the Baptist – Saint Andrew would not have been prepared to act immediately when the time was right.
After all, it seems that the immediate takes time and it takes work. And I pray, today, for the Grace to do what is required to act immediately…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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