This month, we celebrate the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle on Nov. 30. The Gospel of Matthew recounts that Andrew first encountered Jesus while fishing in the Sea of Galilee with his brother Simon. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” This moment was transformative for Andrew. In the years that followed this first meeting with Jesus, his life became wholly dedicated to preaching the Gospel of Christ.
Jesus extends the same invitation to us as he did to St. Andrew. In contemplating our own call to evangelize, St. Andrew has some important lessons to offer us. There are many to choose from, but I will share two. The first is this: The seeds of evangelization begin to grow within our own longing for truth. Before his encounter with Jesus at the Sea of Galilee, Andrew was on a search. First, it led him to follow John the Baptist. Later, it led him to embrace Jesus’ call. It did something else too: It taught him how to rekindle the desire for truth in others. We all have a deep yearning for truth, but it is all too easy to stifle or ignore. St. Andrew shows us a different way. He shows us how to embrace this desire and be shaped by it.
That is the first lesson: All of us are called to be evangelists. All are called to go out and be “fishers of men,” just as Simon and Andrew were. But to hear this call, our hearts must be ready. We must, like St. Andrew, be searchers, waiting attentively for the call of the Lord. The work of evangelization begins with observing the ways we need to be “fed” ourselves, and by approaching Christ, again and again, to ask for what we need. Without Christ — without prayer and the sacraments — we will have little to offer others. What is more, we will not know how to help others cultivate a desire for Christ. The path to being renewed by Christ is one we must tread ourselves time and again if we are to lead others.
The first lesson counsels us to cultivate our own desire for truth. The second is about our openness to others. Pope Benedict XVI made an interesting observation about the name “Andrew” — it is not Hebrew as we might expect, but Greek. It suggests that Andrew was raised in a family that welcomed other cultures. Perhaps that is why St. Andrew’s own call was to evangelize foreign lands. Sometimes we think of evangelization as a one-way conversation in which the person being evangelized is the only one who grows. But it is important to remember that evangelization is not an invitation for others to follow us, but an invitation for others to walk beside us as we follow Christ. We have much to learn from one another along the way. That is why it is as important to listen as to speak.
It is especially important to apply this lesson to our efforts to evangelize. Today, more than ever, people are longing to be heard. Social media platforms seem to offer endless opportunities to be seen and heard. But with the rise of social media, we have become more aware than ever of our need for real connection — and platforms like TikTok and Instagram do not give us that. True connection comes only from a desire to know and love one another. We are truly seen and heard only in the light of Christ. Only Christ knows us in the depths of our being, and it is only in Christ’s gaze that we truly feel seen.
And that is the point of evangelization: that each person will know that he or she is seen by Christ, desired by Christ and loved by Christ. Evangelization is about going forth, making connections with others and humbly offering them the gift we have gratuitously received. During this National Eucharistic Revival, we are invited to contemplate the words of Revelation: “Behold, I make all things new.” These words invite us to be revived and renewed through the gift of the Eucharist, but they are also a call to renew our commitment to share in Christ’s work through evangelization. As we prepare to enter the third and final preparatory year of our Diocesan Golden Jubilee, devoted to evangelization and acts of mercy, we are reminded that, through our constant renewal in Christ, we share his renewing love with others.
In a special way this month, may we recall the witness of St. Andrew, whose life was transformed by encountering Christ. With St. Andrew, may we stand before Christ ready to receive and, having received, ready to give.
