Feast of Saint Andrew

 “One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?"  --John 6:8-9.

St. Augustine says the five loaves represent the five books of the Torah; the two fish represent the dual offices of Jesus originating in the Old Testament, namely, Priest and King. He feeds the multitudes, for as Priest he intercedes with the Father, who is the source of all good; he does so miraculously, because he is King and all power has been given to him.

The Solemnity of Christ the King was last Sunday, November 25th. The feast of St. Andrew is November 30th.

 

 

No Fast Today

I will praise God's name with a song; I will glorify him with thanksgiving,

A gift pleasing God more than oxen, more than beasts prepared for sacrifice.

(Psalm 69:30-31)
[wpclipart.com] 

A bell tower. A church. I know it well. I loved its cool stones.

High on a hill. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid" (Matt. 5:14)

Still standing. But no longer a church.

"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'" (Luke 14:28-30)

"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" --Ps. 11

"...you must inevitably rejoice, you must spurn the tortures of the moment for joy at what is to be; you know that it was so ordered from the beginning of the universe that here righteousness should struggle and wrestle in this world, for at the very beginning the righteous man Abel was slain and thereafter all those righteous men have been slain, both the prophets and the Apostles whom He sent forth." --St. Cyprian of Carthage (martyred 258 A.D.)

Fast and pray, now more than ever.

All Saints' Day

Jacob Epstein's Michael the Archangel--Photo by duncan on flickr.com

"I, John, saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God." (Rev. 7:2)

                                                                                              --from the readings for the Mass