A Few Thoughts In Passing; December 6th

1. Happy Saint Nicholas Day!!! Saint Nicholas, the generous and kind 4th century bishop of Myra, Lycia (now modern day Turkey) from whom the legend of our Santa Claus rose.

2. An Manhattan Declaration update. As of today there are 176 various church leader signatories and there are at least 260,605 people who have endorsed the declaration.

3. Last Monday, November 30th, Catholics commemorated the feast of the apostle Saint Andrew. Saint Andrew was seeking the Lord and was a follower of Saint John the Baptist before encountering Jesus. Though his role is not as predominate as Saints Peter, James and John in the gospels; he did play a significant role. According to the Gospel of Saint John, he was most likely the first apostle to find Jesus and he is credited for bringing Peter to Jesus (John 1:41), he also is the apostle who brought the young boy with the bread and fishes to Jesus (John 6:8-9). Subsequently when a group of Greeks asked to see Jesus, he was the one who took the message and the Greeks to Him.

Saint Andrew evangelized throughout Asia Minor and, as recorded by the bishop Eusebius, traveling as far as Scythia, the Black Sea, the Volga and Kiev. It is believed he was crucified in Patras, Achaea (Greece) around 70 ad. [Eusebius is credited with writing the first history of the Church; he lived from 260-339 ad.]

Saint Andrew is the patron of Scotland and Russia.

Saint Andrew's behavior as recorded in the Gospels demonstrates to me how God is depending on us to bring others to Him and even though we may not be big figures in the big picture, we are called to play a key role in building the Kingdom of God. Each of us is unique and God is depending on each of us.