“The Saints of Advent: St. Andrew”
Saint Matthew 4: 18-22
Advent Midweek I: 1 December Anno Domini 2022
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
“For all Thy Saints O Lord, who strove in Thee to live, who followed Thee, obeyed, adored, our grateful hymns receive.” So sing we all—i.e., confess boldly, in Hymn # 468 from TLH. This is not only hymnic but Scriptural as the Apostle writes to the Hebrews: “wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” [He. 12.1]. These witnesses are The Saints, those faithful Christians (many of them most blessed Holy Martyrs) who have died and are with The Lord in that great cloud of Trinitarian repose, awaiting the final Advent.
But for you, this is your NOW Advent.
Advent from the Latin “adventus” can be translated as the “coming arrival.” Yes the arrival of The Nativity Season in the Church—the Blessed Christ-Mass, but more importantly the end of this present heavens and earth and Christs’ triumphal return! So, this New Testament period is one of waiting. And, St. Paul makes it clear it is a waiting that is not idle but active: “running with patience the race that is set before us.” With patience! A trait most Christians fall far short of when witnessing our diabolical secular culture. But take heart, you are surround by The Saints; not their memory but The Saints. They are with The Christ. The Christ is with you in His Word and His Sacramental Word. They’re here also including the Blessed Saint Andrew.
Andrew’s feast day was yesterday, the last day of November. But Andrew is with you every Lord’s Day, every time you approach the Holy Altar to be encompassed by “angels and archangels and with all whole company of heaven.” For as Jesus said: “I Am The God of Abraham, and The God of Isaac, and The God of Jacob (and The God of Andrew). God is not The God of the dead, but of the living” [Mt. 22. 32].
Saint Andrew is a perfect exemplar and icon of both Christ and the waiting Christian. He is a symbol of patience and confessional fortitude.
Scripture informs you that it was Andrew and Saint James, son of Zebedee, who were the two first followers of Christ. “Again, the next day after John (The Baptist) stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold The Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, what seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, we have found The Messias, which is, being interpreted, The Christ. And he brought him to Jesus” [Jn. 1. 35-42a]. So, Andrew is the very first Disciple and the first missionary evangelist. But in the remaining accounts found in the synoptics as well as St. John, son of Zebedee’s Gospel, he falls into the shadow of his famous brother—the “Rock.” But he waits. He waits patiently trusting in The Word of God that all that Christ speaks will come to fruition. The Kingdom of God is at hand. For three long years Andrew waits. And for 2,000 years he continues to wait in obscurity to the masses of unbelievers save for certain cultural landmarks, to-wit: the Saint Andrew’s cross prominently featured in Scottish vexillology (indeed, the flag of Scotland, Alabama, and the Battle Flag of the C.S.A.) and dwindling number of boys of the west bearing his heroic name. It is from the Greek Andreas/Andros, meaning man or manly, i.e., heroic! he is mentioned only 12 times in The Bible (great number though) and four of those is just the listing of the “12.”
But you, my fellow disciples of Messias, are not your names also listed in The Book of Life? St. Paul says all “fellowlabourers” are so listed [Phil. 4.3]. And Saint John the Divine writes: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels” [Rev. 3.5].
No, not listed in The Bible along with Simon the Zealot and James the Less, but in The very Body of The God/Man—by way of His suffering and death for you sins, shortcomings, selfishness, and not waiting patiently in His Word. “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands” [Is. 49.16a]. The Cross of Advent is your “star in/of the east” that goes before you leading you this Advent, first to Bethlehem Creche, then to Golgotha Crucifix, and soon, very soon, to The Master’s return in the clouds.
Tradition has it that it was because of Andrew’s preaching (patient preaching) of Christ crucified, that the wife of a wicked Roman proconsul became a Christian, which so enraged the official that he ordered Andrew’s crucifixion upon a cross made in the form of an X. Fitting for X marks the spot does it not. The X is a cross tilted to the side. That spot-marking takes place on the foreheads and the breasts of all those in Christ Jesus when washed in His + Holy Name.
What is Christian Martyrdom but patiently holding to the Word of God in the face of bloody red death or the white death of suffering for the faith until one’s natural end.
But also, the X shape is the Greek letter “chi” which when pronounced is sounded as a hard C or K. It is the first letter of your Lord’s title Christos/Christ.
So, during this December, this Advent (which may be the final earthly Advent for all of us) as you suffer, experience pain and loss, grieve the loss of departed Saints (Andrew), and struggle under the world’s, the devils, and your own old Adam trials and temptations, remember that you like Andrew are a Saint of Advent. You also are martyred on the blessed letter. To follow Christ is to be united with Him; so also, surely the most blessed expression of that union is the experience of His holy wounds.
This humble fisherman from Bethsaida, this Andrew cast out his net—the Gospel of Jesus in Christ’s obedience and Christ’s suffering and death.
You will rise again, with Andrew, my fellow Lion-Hearted: “O my God, I pray Thee, in the combat stay me; grant that I may ever be loyal, staunch, and true to Thee” [TLH # 470.4]
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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