Call me dangerously distracted, but not until I saw this lovely acrylic painting by Roger Hutchison, a parishioner at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia, South Carolina, did I realize why the Saint Andrew’s Christmas Novena also is a novena for couples trying to conceive. How obvious this now all seems.

Mary, a poor unwed teenager, spent the weeks before Christmas Day anticipating the birth of her son, a son conceived “by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary.”

As someone who struggled with infertility during her childbearing years, I can say the Christmas season is the worst of all. Everything is centered on a couple joyously awaiting the miraculous birth of their child. Plus, Christmas comes at the end of the calendar year and can be yet another reminder of one’s empty womb.

Please share this Christmas Novena with others. As we pray it, let’s keep in mind the couples who are longing to build their families. The Apostolate of Hannah’s Tears is a wonderful resource for Catholics struggling with infertility. Does your parish offer seasonal celebrations for all its members – for singles and childless couples – or only for families with children? What do we do in our parish to encourage families to consider foster parenting and adoption? What can we do to welcome all this Advent Season?

As a lifelong Catholic, I have heard a lot and read a lot about Christ calling his apostles, ordinary Jewish fishermen plying their trade on the Sea of Galilee, to be “fishers of men.”

The vocations of apostles, such as Saint Andrew, and their successors, our priests, are to draw us to Christ. But in many corners of the globe, including the Philippines, Brazil and in the United States, the Church faces a dire shortage of priests even as the Church on this planet numbers beyond one billion.

What’s at stake? No priests, no sacraments, no Church.  “Who’s going to give the sacraments for the next generation?” one priest asks in a powerful video called “Fishers of Men.”

This 18-minute video was produced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Vocations and Priestly Formation. If your family hasn’t seen this video – our two sons watched it during CCD class last year – please do.

And as we pray the Christmas Novena together, let’s reflect on whether we’re raising our sons to realize, as one priest in the video puts it: “it’s not natural to be a priest; it’s supernatural.”

Andrew, who recognized Christ as the Messiah, immediately shared this revelation with his brother Peter. The Gospel of John says simply: “And he brought him to Jesus.“

Both brothers – Saint Andrew and Saint Peter – became Apostles. Could they have imagined then that they both would be martyred for their faith?

How did this meeting happen? What was it about Andrew that drew Peter to Christ? How do we Christians attract nonbelievers to Christ? We can’t do it by lecturing them on our doctrines, shaming them into belief, or condemning the world we inhabit.

Instead, I believe that no matter where our days take us, no matter how banal the tasks before us seem, we must strive to exude love, the kind of forgiving merciful love saints personify, the kind of powerful unquenchable love that comes only from Christ.

When he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Holy Father (considerably more literate than I) said this about the attractiveness of the Christian path:

Let us consider how we can be the hands, feet and face of Christ to others as we pray the Christmas Novena today.

What’s in a name? Upon Our Lord’s first meeting with Andrews’ brother Simon, in John chapter 1, He says Simon’s name will be changed. This is how the scene unfolds,

The next day again John (the Baptist) stood, and two of his disciples. And beholding Jesus walking, he saith: Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turning, and seeing them following him, saith to them: What seek you? Who said to him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith to them: Come and see.

They came, and saw where he abode, and they stayed with him that day: now it was about the tenth hour. And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard of John, and followed him. He findeth first his brother Simon, and saith to him: We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter.

Yes, Jesus knew who he was, sight unseen. To keep things straight for us readers, St. John calls St. Peter Simon Peter often throughout his version of the gospel. Even though the “Peter” part wasn’t declared yet. And when he calls him Simon only, he clarifies it, like this from John 6:14 (all of these citations are from the Douay-Rheims version of the Bible):

Simon, whom He (Jesus) surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,

Biblical name changes are no small matter. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, the significance is weighty. For example, Abram (which means high father) becomes Abraham, or father of multitudes. His wife’s name, Sarai (which means my princess) is changed to Sarah, which means mother of nations. Very ironic for a women who was barren? Miraculous, is what it is.

Another major name change in the Old Testament occurs to Jacob. Jacob’s name, which originally means heel or leg-puller is changed to Israel, which means persevere with God. And later on, in the Acts of the Apostles, A Pharisee named Saul will have his named change as well.

The foreshadowing of the name change for Simon in John’s first chapter, feeds the drama of Our Lord’s statement in the 16th chapter of Matthew when he asks the Twelve “Who do the people say I am?” and more importantly, “who do you say I am?” And that is the hugely significant prelude to the recognition of who Peter is, and who he is to become.

Ponder the plan God has for each of us in your heart as you pray the Christmas Novena today.

Two brothers were hard at work in their fishing boats in the Sea of Galilee. Maybe they were mending their nets. Maybe they were bickering over who had done more work the day before. A man walks along the shoreline. Do they know him? Maybe. After all, he’s a carpenter. Maybe he had helped them repair their boats. Or maybe he is a stranger to them. We do not know. The man calls to them.

“And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard of John and followed him. He finds first his brother Simon and said to him: We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: You are Simon the son of Jona. You shall be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter.”

Christ found Andrew, engaged in the often-monotonous work of making a living. He sought him to be his first follower. Christ didn’t seek out a political leader. He sought an ordinary man.

Christ continues to journey to us. He’s always waiting for us to turn to him, to feel his loving gaze on us. We can encounter Christ through a workmate, a dear friend, or in the face of a stranger. When we start looking, we will find Him everywhere.

And then, as Fr. Julian Carron writes: “Here begins the drama, because I am called to answer. It is the drama that unfolds between us and the Mystery, through certain facts, certain moments, in which the Mystery imposes itself with this evidence. These are facts that we cannot put in our pocket, which we cannot reduce to antecedent factors.”

The Christmas Novena prayer is here.

Sacred scripture tells us little of the life of Christ’s first disciple. Perhaps this is a good thing. Instead of being handed a long narrative about this holy man, we are left to wonder, to contemplate on the man who was the first to follow Christ.

Before he became devoted to Christ, Saint Andrew was a follower of Saint John the Baptist, a cousin of and the Precursor to Christ and the last of the prophets. (Here is Renaissance master Raphael’s painting of Saint John the Baptist preaching)  John the Baptist was a charismatic preacher who had lived in the desert the life of an ascetic and during his public ministry rebuked the leaders of the Pharisees and Sadducees for their hypocrisy and sin. And so we understand that Andrew, like many who followed the Baptist, was a man in search of truth.

Unlike many false prophets of that time John the Baptist never said he was the Messiah; instead he told the followers he baptized in the River Jordan:

I indeed baptize you with water; but there shall come one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: whose fan is in his hand and he will purge his floor; and will gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 

Scripture tells us that John the Baptist was a holy man who had spent time in the desert before emerging for his public ministry. His preaching was intense: he rebuked those living in sin and his words carried weight because he lived austerely. We come to understand then, that Saint Andrew was unafraid of those who critiqued the society in which he was living; he was seeking an understanding of the world beyond its temporal powers.

As we await the coming of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, let’s give thanks to God, who willed Saint Andrew into being.

See the original post for the Christmas novena prayer.

Today both the Western and Eastern churches observe the Feast of St. Andrew, which commemorates the martyrdom of this Jewish fisherman.  In Scotland, where Saint Andrew is the patron saint, this is their national holiday. Saint Andrew was Saint Peter’s younger brother and the first of Christ’s apostles.

Saint Andrew’s name, which is of Greek origin, means “manhood.” How fitting that St. Andrew’s Christmas Novena begins today and ends Christmas Eve. Normally a novena is prayed over a period of time nine days long.  But the term is also used for any prayer that is repeated over a series of days as well. That is the case for this traditional prayer.

In the secular world, this is the Christmas shopping season. St. Andrew , a fisher of men, can help us keep our focus on encountering Christ. (Here he is in the painting “The Call of Saint Andrew” by 14th century artist Duccio. You can see this painting in Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art) 

As I’ve mentioned before, a novena is not a dispensing machine: don’t put your request in and expect to receive it when your novena is over.  Instead, these prayers will give structure to our days, helping us to meditate on the life of God’s people as we await the coming of Our Savior. Sarah Harkins, who makes clay rosaries, handcrafted a Saint Andrew’s Chaplet to help Christians along. Tradition has it we are to recite this prayer 15 times a day until Christmas.

Unlike most novenas, this prayer is not a petition for St. Andrew to pray for us. Instead, this short prayer is a petition to God the Father.

Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment at which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, Oh my God!, to hear my prayers and grant my desires (Mention your intentions here), through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.


Won’t you join me?

Libraries have always been one of my favorite places on earth. Just ask anyone who knows me. I’m especially fond of public libraries. But  private ones are nice too.

Pope Benedict XVI is a gifted writer so it probably comes as no surprise that he loves books and libraries as well. But I still love it when my Pope says that “we are keeping the library!”

Far from being simply the fruit of the accumulation of a refined bibliophile and of a hobby of collecting many possibilities, the Vatican Library is a precious means — which the Bishop of Rome cannot and does not intend to give up — that gives, in the consideration of problems, that look capable of gathering, in a perspective of long duration, the remote roots of situations and their evolution in time.

And why, pray tell, are the Vatican Libraries worth keeping?

From its origins it conserves the unmistakable, truly ‘catholic,’ universal openness to everything that humanity has produced in the course of the centuries that is beautiful, good, noble, worthy the breadth of mind with which in time it gathered the loftiest fruits of human thought and culture, from antiquity to the Medieval age, from the modern era to the 20th century.

And for another reason,

…nothing of all that is truly human is foreign to the Church, which because of this has always sought, gathered, conserved, with a continuity that few equal, the best results of men of rising above the purely material toward the search, aware or unaware, of the Truth.

Which I reckon means we will be keeping our astronomical observatory too. And another great thing about the Vatican Library and our Pope’s love for the same? Just this,

In the Vatican Library, all researchers of the truth have always been received with attention and care, without confessional or ideological discrimination; required of them only is the good faith of serious research, unselfish and qualified.

All are welcome!

You can read the full article from ZENIT here (h/t to Athos at Chronicles of Atlantis for posting on this).