This Wednesday, November 30, is the feast of St. Andrew. According to St. John’s Gospel, Andrew was Jesus’ first disciple, and brought his brother Peter to Jesus to be His disciple, too: The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples; and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus . . . One of the two who heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). (John 1:35-36, 40-42)
It was also Andrew who told Jesus about the boy with the loaves and the fishes in the feeding of the five-thousand: “. . . Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ‘There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?’” (John 6:8-9) Christians have traditionally held that, after the resurrection, Andrew preached the Gospel to the gentiles, finally dying a martyr’s death by crucifixion. Also on November 30, the St. Andrew Christmas Novena begins.
In this novena, one recites the following prayer fifteen times daily from the feast of St. Andrew up to (and including) Christmas Eve:
A St. Andrew Novena prayer card from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.
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,
[your intention]
Through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and His blessed Mother. Amen.
The first thing to note about this prayer is that, although it is a Christmas novena, it starts not nine, but twenty-five days before Christmas!
I believe that there is, however, a special significance to the novena starting on the feast of St. Andrew. Throughout the Bible and Christian tradition, St. Andrew is always seen trying to bring people to Christ. He brought Peter, the prince of the apostles and the first Pope, to Christ. He brought the boy with the loaves and fishes to Christ.
In the end, he gave his life trying to bring the whole world to Christ. How fitting it is, then, that he should bring us to Christ, especially as we try to encounter Him more fully at Christmas! Like the boy with the loaves and the fish, He will increase what we bring Him into a bounty we cannot imagine.
The second thing to note is that, according to a pious tradition, any request that is made in this novena will be granted. Of course, Catholics are not required to believe this; it would be wise to remember, however, Jesus’ words that “Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14) Clearly, Jesus doesn’t mean that, if you ask in His name, that guarantees that you can get anything you want (“please give me a million dollars, Lord”). Rather, you have to really mean it, not just say the words; really try to align your will to God’s. When that happens, God will always answer your prayers; sometimes, though, the answer will look different than you expected. Taken in this sense, I wouldn’t be so quick to discount the bold claims about the novena. Try to really say, “not what I will, but what You will” (Mark 14:36), and God will answer.
Finally, why fifteen times? There’s nothing magical about the number fifteen; I think that the repetition, however, is really critical to getting the most out of this devotion. Think about the words of the prayer; “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.”
Think about it; this is one of the most sacred events in human history; this is the moment that all the decorations, family gatherings, gifts, songs, and celebrations that go along with Christmas are all meant to celebrate; this is a moment which, from a purely worldly point of view, is about as unimportant as you can imagine. One impoverished young woman gives birth to a baby in a stable in the freezing cold. Big deal! In purely material terms, this is not a reason for celebration. This is just one more example of human poverty, of human suffering. If anything, it is reason to mourn the unfortunate state of mankind.
Christmas does not derive one ounce of its significance from its effect on our possessions. Indeed, Christianity demands that we renounce physical possessions, even to the point of renouncing life itself, for the sake of a greater good. We must pick up our cross and follow our Lord, who took humility so far that He started His life in this world in a food trough for animals.
Yet this is reason to rejoice! It is reason to rejoice because we have been freed from our slavery to created things and have become sons of God. That is the message of Christmas.
It has been estimated that, in the United States, each person is exposed to, on average, 3,000 commercials every day. At this time of year, many of those commercials are Christmas-oriented. I would be willing to bet that, of all those commercials, almost every single one was, in one way or another, sending us the message, “You are defined by your stuff. You need stuff. Stuff will make you happy. Christmas is about stuff.”
The St. Andrew Christmas Novena tells us the exact opposite. It tells us that we are not defined by stuff. It tells us that Christmas is not about stuff. It tells us that, if God Himself was willing to endure abject poverty so that human beings could go to heaven, we should be willing to do the same. The messages we hear change the way we think. This is a fact. If we hear thousands of false messages every day and just one true message, which will have the upper hand? Isn’t twenty-five days of telling ourselves the truth fifteen times a day the bare minimum of what we should be doing? Repetition ingrains ideas in our minds. It forces us to make a real time investment, to not just blurt out a few sentences and move on with our day, but to really meditate on what we’re saying. It allows us, with the help of St. Andrew, to really offer our Advent to Christ. He will do more good with it than we can imagine.
May you all have a blessed Advent!
