Great morning to all! Today is the feast of St. Andrew, Apostle and Martyr. To all of you of Scottish descent, Happy Feast of St. Andrew! The Scottish flag is a St. Andrew's cross, as we will discuss later in this article..
I will start this morning with a great piece of news! We are expanding the Divine Mercy and Saint of the Day show to 45 minutes starting today so that we can pray the entire daily part of the St. Andrew's Christmas Novena each day from today through Christmas Eve! We will be packing a lot into 45 minutes, so be ready to move fast!
Did you know that the First Sunday of Advent (and the beginning of each Liturgical year) is on the Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Andrew? It is. And the reason is quite simple - St. Andrew was the first Apostle called by Jesus. In fact, it was St. Andrew, who said to his younger brother, Simon, "come with me for we have found the Messiah". Why is this so important? How did this change the world? Very simple. Today, we know this Simon as Peter - the first Pope. According to the Gospel of St. John, Andrew had been a follower of St. John the Baptist.
Andrew spent his later years preaching the Gospel along the shores of the Black Sea, where he was eventually martyred. He was martyred by crucifixion, but his cross was a diagonal cross (hence why it is called the Cross of St. Andrew), because he said he was unworthy to die on the cross as Jesus had, and he was tied, not nailed, to his cross. His cross was essentially in the shape of an X.
The crucifixion of St. Andrew:
The Scottish flag:
(Images were found on the internet and are considered in the public domain.)
The St. Andrew Christmas Novena prayer is:
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 the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.
(Prayer copied from EWTN).
Please join us at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on The 4 Persons for the Prayer of Divine Mercy, Saint of the Day and the St. Andrew Christmas Novena here: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/the4persons/2023/11/30/divine-mercy-chaplet-and-saint-of-the-day-and-daily-update or streaming anytime (like all of our shows). St. Andrew the Apostle, pray for us!
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