STEWARDSHIP PATHS
By Julia Williams

JACKSON – St. Andrew the Apostle is known as the “Protokletos,” or “The First Called’ to be an apostle of Jesus.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and saw Andrew and Simon Peter fishing. Jesus asked the two to become disciples and “fishers of men.” The Gospel of John states that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, and when Jesus walked by one day, John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” It is then that Andrew, and another, made the decision to follow Jesus. In both stories, Saint Andrew answered the call to follow Jesus.

As members of the church, Jesus also calls us to be disciples to a new way of life, the Christian way of life, of which stewardship is a part. But Jesus does not call us as nameless people in a faceless crowd. He calls us individually, by name.

God intends each one of us to play a unique role in carrying out the divine plan. The challenge is to understand our role, and to respond generously to this call from God.

Christian stewardship is recognizing that “Everything we have and everything we are” is a gift from God and we are to be grateful and generous with those gifts.

The Spirit is calling and can show us the way. Stewardship is a part of that journey. Are you listening to the call?

St. Andrew was sentenced to a death of crucifixion by the Romans in Greece. He asked to be crucified on a diagonal cross as he felt he wasn’t worthy to die on the same shape of cross as Jesus. His feast day is Nov. 30, the date of his death.

Excerpts: wordonfire.org; catholiccompany.com; catholicstewardship.com