Today is the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle. Happy feast day! It was Andrew who introduced his brother Peter to Jesus, saying, “We have found the Messiah,” (John 1:41).
After Pentecost, Andrew is thought to have taken the Gospel to various lands including Russia before being been martyred at Patras in southern Greece on a cross which was in the form of an "X". This type of cross has long been known as “Saint Andrew's cross”. His relics were taken in the 4th century to Scotland by the Greek monk, Saint Regulus.
“Saint Andrew, we are told in John’s Gospel (1:35-42), was one of the first of the apostles to meet Jesus,” explains Father John Linden, pastor of Saint Andrew parish and school in Saline.
“From that day forward, he did nothing but talk about and introduce others to Jesus. Tradition says that, even as he hung on his cross, he still talked about nothing but Jesus to his last breath.”
“May we prayerfully consider how we could use a few more of the breaths we have left in this world to talk about and introduce others Jesus, just like Saint Andrew faithfully did.”
The Feast of Saint Andrew also hastens the beginning of the pious custom of the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena whereby the following prayer is traditionally recited fifteen times a day until Christmas Day. Let us pray:
“+Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.”
* Additional material from Catholic Culture: https://www.catholicculture.org/