St. Andrew, First-Called

Tomorrow is the Feast of St. Andrew. I have always liked him for two reasons. The first is that he followed St. John the Baptist and, therefore, was "awake", like St. John, waiting for Christ. Andrew told his brother Peter about Christ. Andrew is honored as the "First-Called" in the Eastern Church.

The second reason I like him so much is that he brought the boy with the loaves and fishes to Christ, which indicates he was a pro-active and helpful sort of person. He must have expected deep down inside Christ to do something!

St. Andrew is patron of many places, but today, please pray to him for two special places-the Ukraine and Luqa, Malta, for whom he is patron. Andrew was killed on the saltire form of the cross, now called St. Andrew's cross, the X form.

Preti, the great painter of Malta, who executed the great St. Catherine painting I put on the blog earlier this past week, did the St. Andrew found in the old chapel in Luqa. I have not been there yet.

When you think of him, especially tomorrow, pray for me, as I am living in St. Andrew's at this time. It amazes me to think that the chapel in Luqa was built six years after Columbus found America.

Malta churches glorify God, but also honor the faith of the people in the past.