Feast, St. Andrews, Nov. 30
1st Reading: Romans 10:9-18
Israel’s Infidelity (Continuation)
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[9] If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [10] For man believes
with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is
saved. [11] The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to
shame.” [12] For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same
Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. [13]
For, “every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
[14] But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And
how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are
they to hear without a preacher? [15] And how can men preach unless they
are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach
good news!” [16] But they have not all heeded the gospel; for Isaiah says,
“Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” [17] So faith comes
from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ. [18]
But I ask; have they not heard? Indeed they have; for
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.”
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Commentary:
9. At least from the third century B.C. we have documentary evidence that,
out of respect, the Jews did not utter the name “Yahweh” but generally
refer-
red to God instead as “Lord”. The first Christians, by giving Christ the
title of
“Lord”, were making a profession of faith in the divinity of Jesus.
10. To make the act of faith, human free will must necessarily be involved as
St Thomas explains when commenting on this passage: “He very rightly says
that man believes with his heart. Because everything else to do with external
worship of God, man can do it against his will, but he cannot believe if he does
not want to believe. So, the mind of a believer is not obliged to adhere to the
truth by rational necessity, as is the case with human knowledge: it is moved
by the will” (”Commentary on Rom”, ad loc.)
However, in order to live by faith, in addition to internal assent external
profes-
sion of faith is required; man is made up of body and soul and therefore he
tends by nature to express his inner convictions externally; when the honor
of God or the good of one’s neighbor requires it, one even has an obligation
to
profess one’s faith externally. For example, in the case of persecution we are
obliged to profess our faith, even at the risk of life, if, on being
interrogated a-
bout our beliefs, our silence would lead people to suppose that we did not be-
lieve or that we did not hold our faith to be the true faith and our bad example
would cause others to fall away from the faith. However, external profession is
an obligation not only in extreme situations of that kind. In all situations
— be
they ordinary or exceptional — God will always help us to confess our
faith
boldly (cf. Mt 10:32-33; Lk 12:8).
14-21. To sum up what the Apostle is saying: the Jews have no excuse for not
invoking Christ as Lord, for if they do not believe in him it is due to their
rebel-
liousness, for the Good News has indeed been preached to them.
14-17. The Church’s work of evangelization is aimed at eliciting faith,
moving
people to conversion and reception of its sacraments, in fulfillment of the
Lord’s
commandment, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole of
creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not
believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:15-16). The Acts of the Apostles give us
a great deal of information about this first period of evangelization which was
marked by many miracles worked by the Apostles through the power Jesus
gave them.
On the very day of Pentecost we can already see how vibrant was St Peter’s
preaching and the miracles which accompanied it: “The men and women who
have come to the city from all parts of the world listen with amazement [...].
These wonders, which take place before their very eyes, lead them to listen
to the preaching of the Apostles. The Holy Spirit himself, who is acting through
our Lord’s disciples, moves the hearts of their listeners and leads them to
the
faith” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 127). It is God himself
who works
these miracles through the Apostles; it is he who, through the preaching of Pe-
ter and the Eleven, is revealing the mysteries; and, finally, it is he who is
mo-
ving the hearts of the people. This triple divine action leads to the hearers’
act
of faith. “Two things are required for faith”, says St Thomas. “First, the
things
which are of faith have to be proposed [...]; second, the assent of the believer
to the things which are proposed to him” (”Summa Theologiae”, II-II, q. 6,
a.
1, c).
He goes on to say later that, as regards the first of these two things, faith
comes from God, who reveals truths either directly, as in the case of the Apo-
stles and the Prophets, or else indirectly through preachers of the faith sent
by
Him (cf. Rom 10:15). Speaking of the second, he says that in the individual’s
assent to the truths of faith factors come into play which are external to the
person—for example, miracles, and preaching which expounds the truth of
faith.
But none of these factors is sufficient: even though they witness the same mi-
racle or hear the same preaching, some believe and others do not. There must
therefore be something which moves the person interiorly; although the per-
son’s free will must play a part, it cannot account for the act of faith,
because
that act is a supernatural one; therefore, it must be that God moves the will
interiorly, by means of grace (cf. “Summa Theologiae”, ibid.).
Following Jesus’ example, “every catechist must constantly endeavor to
trans-
mit by his teaching and behavior the teaching and life of Jesus [...]. Every ca-
techist should be able to apply to himself the mysterious words of Jesus: ‘My
teaching is not mine, but his who sent me’ (Jn 7:16)” (Bl. John Paul II,
“Cate-
chesi Tradendae”, 6).
Good example is not enough: apostolic action, through the spoken word, is
called for. We have a mission to speak in God’s name: his disciples “should
everywhere on earth bear witness and give an answer to everyone who asks a
reason for the hope of an eternal life which is theirs” (Vatican II, “Lumen
Gen-
tium”, 10).
This was what the first Christians did. “Whenever we read the Acts of the
Apo-
stles, we are moved by the audacity, the confidence in their mission and the
sacrificing joy of the disciples of Christ. They do not ask for multitudes. Even
though the multitudes come, they address themselves to each particular soul,
to each person, one by one. Philip, to the Ethiopian (cf. Acts 8:24-40); Peter,
to the centurion Cornelius (cf. Acts 10:1-48); Paul, to Sergius Paulus (cf. Acts
13:6-12)” (St. J. Escriva, Homily entitled “Loyalty to the Church”).
Those who accept the Gospel message feel drawn towards it when those who
proclaim it also bear witness to it. “It is therefore primarily by her conduct
and
by her life that the Church will evangelize the world [...]. This law once laid
down by the Apostle Paul maintains its full force today. Preaching, the verbal
proclamation of a message, is indeed always indispensable [...]. The word
remains ever relevant, especially when it is the bearer of the power of God (cf.
1 Cor 2:1-5)” (Paul VI, “Evangelii Nuntiandi”, 41-42).
Gospel Reading: Matthew 4:18-22
The First Disciples Called
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[18] As He (Jesus) 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. [19] And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fi-
shers of men.” [20] Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. [21]
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. [22] Immediately, they left the boat and their father, and fol-
lowed Him.
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Commentary:
18-22. These four disciples had already met our Lord (John 1:35-42), and
their
brief meeting with Him seems to have had a powerful effect on their souls. In
this way Christ prepared their vocation, a fully effective vocation which moved
them to leave everything behind so as to follow Him and be His disciples. Stan-
ding out above their human defects (which the Gospels never conceal), we can
see the exemplary generosity and promptness of the Apostles in answering
God’s call.
The thoughtful reader cannot fail to be struck by the delightful simplicity
with
which the evangelists describe the calling of these men in the midst of their
daily work.
“God draws us from the shadows of our ignorance, our groping through
history,
and, no matter what our occupation in the world, He calls us in a loud voice, as
He once called Peter and Andrew” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By,”
45).
“This divine and human dialogue completely changed the lives of John and
An-
drew, and Peter and James and so many others. It prepared their hearts to lis-
ten to the authoritative teaching which Jesus gave them beside the Sea of Gali-
lee” (”ibid”., 108).
We should notice the words of Sacred Scripture used to describe the alacrity
with which the Apostles follow our Lord. Peter and Andrew “immediately” left
their nets and followed Him. Similarly, James and John “immediately” left
the
boats and their father and followed Him. God passes by and calls us. If we do
not answer Him “immediately”, He may continue on His way and we could lose
sight of Him. When God passes by, He may do so rapidly; it would be sad if we
were to fall behind because we wanted to follow Him while still carrying many
things that are only a dead weight and a nuisance.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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