An excerpt from

EXPLANATION
OF THE
EPISTLES AND
GOSPELS
FOR THE
SUNDAYS, HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
THROUGHOUT
THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR
BY
REV. LEONARD GOFFINE,
PRIEST OF THE ORDER OF PREMONSTRATENSIANS,
EDITED AND ENLARGED BY REV. GEORGE OTT, DEAN
AND PASTOR,
WITH THE APPROBATION OF THE RIGHT REV.
BISHOP OF RATISBON.
TRANSLATED FROM THE NEWEST GERMAN EDITION
BY
REV. GERARD M. PILZ, O.S.B.
Instruction for the Feast
of St. Andrew
[November ]
ndrew, the brother of Simon Peter, a sh-
erman, born in Bethsaida by the sea Gene-
sareth and living at Capharnaum, was at rst
a disciple of John the Baptist who, one day,
on the banks of the Jordan when our Saviour
was passing by, pointed Him out to Andrew,
saying: Behold the Lamb of God! Hearing
these words, Andrew went at once to Christ,
bringing with him his brother Peter. For some time both brothers
went regularly to hear Christ without leaving their business as sh-
ermen, until Jesus said to them: Follow me henceforth, and I will
make you shers of men, when they left their trade and remained
constantly with Him. After St. Andrew with the other apostles, had
been lled with the Holy Ghost, at Pentecost, he travelled through
Syria, Epirus, and Greece, everywhere announcing the glad tid-
ings of salvation, and at last suered a martyrs death at Patras, in
Achaia, where he had established his episcopal seat. While he was
preaching Christ at Patras, he was urged by the governor Aegeas
with violent threatings to oer sacrice to the idols; but he bravely
replied: I daily oer sacrice to the Almighty God, not the esh of
oxen, nor the blood of rams, but an unspotted Lamb; and although
all the faithful may have partaken of his esh, yet the Lamb remains
as before he was oered, alive and undivided. The unchangeable
hero of the faith was then thrown into prison by command of the en-
raged governor, who, since he could not force him to deny Christ,
condemned him to be cruelly scourged and then crucied. When
:
he was brought out to be crucied, and saw his cross, he cried out:
Hail, precious cross, consecrated by the body of Christ, adorned
as with priceless jewels by the limbs of Christ! Well do the faith-
ful know what joyousness lies in thee, and to what glorious reward
thou dost lead! O good cross, I have ardently loved thee, long de-
sired and sought thee, and nowthou art found by me! thou art made
ready for my yearning soul, receive me into thy arms, take me away
from men, carry me to thy divine Master, that He who on thee did
redeem me, on thee may receive me. Having arrived at the cross,
the enraptured apostle disrobed himself, permitted himself to be
bound to the cross, where he remained hanging two days, continu-
ally preaching faith in Christ, until his soul was raised to Himwhom
he so ardently desired in the manner of his death to resemble.If
thou wouldst have part in St. Andrews glory, thou must follow him
in his love of the cross.
According to the general opinion, this holy apostles instrument
of torture consisted in two logs slanting across each other, therefore
making a slanting cross for the arms.
In the Introit of this days Mass, the Church says of the apostles:
To me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable; their
principality is exceedingly strengthened. Lord, thou hast proved me
and known me; thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up.
(Ps. cxxxviii.) Glory, &c.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. We humbly beseech Thy divine
Majesty, O Lord, that as the blessed Apostle Andrew was a teacher
and pastor of Thy Church, so he may be with Thee our perpetual
intercessor. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, &c.
EPISTLE. (Rom. x. :o:8.) Bnr+nnrx: With the heart we be-
lieve unto justice: but, with the mouth, confession is made unto sal-
vation. For the scripture saith: Whosoever believeth in him, shall
not be confounded. For there is no distinction of the Jew and the
Greek: for the same is Lord over all, rich unto all that call upon
him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be
saved. How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not
believed? Or how shall they believe him, of whom they have not
heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? And how
shall they preach, unless they be sent? as it is written: How beauti-
ful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that
bring glad tidings of good things? But all do not obey the gospel.
For Isaias saith: Lord, who hath believed our report? Faith then
cometh by hearing: and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say:
have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound hath gone forth into all
the earth, and their words unto the ends of the whole world.
EXPLANATION. The apostle here tells us, that it is not su-
cient unto salvation that we should believe with the heart, but that
we must also openly confess Christ, that is, in words and in deeds,
and then only have we the true and living faith in Jesus when we
are never ashamed thus to own it. He teaches besides, that God
makes no dierence between Jew and Greek (that is, gentile), but
that every one can be saved who believes in Christ and openly con-
fesses his faith in words and works. But all can believe, since faith
comes from hearing, and the word of God through its preachers is
everywhere announced. For this reason the Jews are not excusable
for their unbelief, nor the indels among us, for the Church sends
forth, at all times into all countries her apostles and preachers of
whom it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things:
In our days, how much is preached and how little faith is seen!
Can such Christians excuse their ignorance, if one day the Lord
shall demand an account of their faith?
GOSPEL. (Matt. iv. :8zz.) A+ +n.+ +ixr: Jesus walking by
the sea of Galilee, sawtwo brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and
Andrewhis brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were shers).
And he saith to them: Come ye after me, and I will make you to be
shers of men. And they immediately leaving their nets, followed
him. And going on from thence, he saw two other brethren, James
the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee
their father, mending their nets: and he called them. And they forth-
with left their nets and father, and followed him.
EXPLANATION. Christ chose His apostles to show us that not
any one, not called, can assume the place of teacher, but that, as
He Himself says, he must be chosen and sent. (John xx. :6.) He
called His apostles at the very commencement of His teaching, that
by continual intercourse with Him, by daily hearing His doctrines,
and by the sight of His most holy way of life, they might prepare
themselves for their great calling.
Christ chose simple shermen for His apostles, so that, as St.
Ambrose says, the world might know, that the introduction of Chris-
tianity was the work of God, and no one can say, that Christ won
the world to receive the faith by deceit, force, riches, or science.
I will make you shers of men, that is, I will give you grace to
convert souls and bring them to God.People in the world can and
should in their own way be shers of men. Such they are when they
incite their associates, or those under them, to listen attentively to
the word of God, give them pious books to read, keep them from
bad company, gently reprove their faults, &c. St. Augustine says,
that in this way fathers of families exercise the oce of bishops.
They immediately followed Christ. We learn from this, that we
should at once obey the word of God, when it urges us to do good, or
to be converted, and that knowing the truth of the divine call, should
put aside all human gains and considerations in order to follow this
voice, like the apostles who laid by all temporal prots and followed
Jesus, when He called them; for He says: He that loveth father and
mother more than me, is not worthy of me. (Matt. x. .)
PRAYER. Most benign Jesus! who hast elevated simple sher-
men to the exalted dignity of apostles, thus putting the wisdom and
power of this world to shame, grant, we beseech Thee, that they and
their successors may observe Thy teachings, and in faith, hope, and
charity remain ever Thine.