{"id":3342,"date":"2007-11-30T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-30T09:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/11\/why-andrew.html"},"modified":"2007-11-30T09:15:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-30T09:15:00","slug":"why-andrew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/11\/why-andrew.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Andrew?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I start to dig through the pope’s encyclical<\/a>, I’ve been wondering: why Andrew? Why did the pope decide to issue this particular letter on this particular feast? John Allen<\/a> speculates that it may be St. Andrew’s connection to the eastern church — an ecumenical hat tip. <\/p>\n

But I think there is more to it than that. <\/p>\n

Andrew, you’ll remember, was the brother of Simon Peter. And it was Andrew who first encountered Christ, and who then introduced him to his brother. Perhaps Benedict is saying, likewise, it is hope<\/i> that leads us to Christ; we can’t meet Him without it. It is the beginning of our relationship with Him, the central force for our encounter with Him. <\/p>\n

I was struck by this passage: <\/p>\n

Anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph 2:12). Man’s great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God\u2014God who has loved us and who continues to love us \u201cto the end,\u201d until all \u201cis accomplished\u201d (cf. Jn 13:1 and 19:30). Whoever is moved by love begins to perceive what \u201clife\u201d really is. He begins to perceive the meaning of the word of hope that we encountered in the Baptismal Rite: from faith I await \u201ceternal life\u201d\u2014the true life which, whole and unthreatened, in all its fullness, is simply life. Jesus, who said that he had come so that we might have life and have it in its fullness, in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10), has also explained to us what \u201clife\u201d means: \u201cthis is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent\u201d (Jn 17:3). Life in its true sense is not something we have exclusively in or from ourselves: it is a relationship. And life in its totality is a relationship with him who is the source of life. If we are in relation with him who does not die, who is Life itself and Love itself, then we are in life. Then we \u201clive\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Heady stuff. <\/p>\n

So, in a sense, perhaps, our relationship to The One who is Love begins with Hope. <\/p>\n

And we have St. Andrew to thank for that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I start to dig through the pope’s encyclical, I’ve been wondering: why Andrew? Why did the pope decide to issue this particular letter on this particular feast? John Allen speculates that it may be St. Andrew’s connection to the eastern church — an ecumenical hat tip. 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}