Who's Your Andrew?

Recently I saw a quiz on social media, "Which saint are you most like?" I have always identified with Peter. Overly enthusiastic and eager to please, at times fickle and unsure, not great at understanding or listening to instructions, and yet, he ultimately pulls it together and goes on to spur worldwide evangelization and become the first Pope. While I have the first few attributes nailed down, I am still hoping that one day I can pull it together with God’s grace. For the extent of his significance in the Church, we often forget that before there was Peter, there was Andrew. Peter’s brother was the first one to tell Peter, "We have found the Messiah!" Peter owes so much to Andrew for that introduction to the Lord. Like my role model, I owe many of the blessings in my life to a brother in Christ.　 Last week, CLI bid farewell to our long-time team member, Matt Manion, who has accepted a very exciting role leading Villanova University’s Center for Church Management. Our apostolate’s first full-time volunteer and our President and CEO for almost two decades, Matt had the vision that enabled us to serve the Church to the extent we do today. However, like St. Andrew, Matt’s vision isn’t focused on greatness, his vision is focused on Christ. He is a disciple "not deprived of something essential, but one who has found much more." Matt has shared that "more" with so many. Anyone who has ever been blessed or will ever be blessed to serve the mission of CLI owes him our deepest gratitude, especially this overly enthusiastic and, at times, fickle disciple-in- training. Do we realize and give thanks for those "Andrew’s" in our life? More importantly, do we pay that gift forward? Are we "Andrew’s" to others? If I ever hope to do that whole worldwide evangelization thing, I have a lot more than social media quizzes to do.