30 November 2026 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed).” John 1:41
Two disciples of John the Baptist hear him say, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” and follow Jesus. He turns and asks, “What are you looking for?” They answer, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” and he says, “Come and see.” They spend the day with him. One of them is Andrew, and the first thing he does is find his brother Simon: “We have found the Messiah.” He brings him to Jesus. Andrew is the patron of everyone who brings a brother or sister to Christ.
Paul writes to the Galatians with a mother's tenderness: “My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Evangelisation is not only information; it is labour and love until Christ takes shape in another person. On the eve of the Christmas fast, we prepare for Christ to be born, not only in Bethlehem but in us.
Theme: “We have found the Messiah.”
St Andrew, the one who brings others.
“O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8
“He said to them, “Come and see.”” John 1:39
Apply: Spend fifteen minutes alone with Jesus today.
“Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob;” Isaiah 2:3
“He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed).” John 1:41
Apply: Invite one person to the Holy Qurbono.
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” Isaiah 49:15
“My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,” Galatians 4:19
Apply: Pray daily for one person you want to bring to faith.
Andrew found Jesus and brought his brother.
May Christ be formed in us this Christmas fast.
Take-home resolution: Pray for one person by name every day of the fast.
Dear friends, today is the feast of Mar Andrews Shleeha, St Andrew the Apostle. Two disciples of John the Baptist hear him say, look, here is the Lamb of God, and follow Jesus. He turns and asks: what are you looking for? Rabbi, where are you staying? Come and see, he says, and they remain with him that day. Andrew first finds his brother Simon and tells him: we have found the Messiah; and he brings him to Jesus (John 1:36–42).
Paul writes to the Galatians with a mother's heart: my little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4:19). Bringing others to Christ carries the pain of love.
In this week after the Sunday of the Visitation, like Mary who went in haste to Elizabeth, like Andrew who ran to his brother, let us bring Christ to someone. Say to one person: come and see, to a prayer, to a Holy Qurbono. Amen.
Children, when Andrew found Jesus he ran and brought his brother. Tell someone too: come and see!
Lord Jesus, Lamb of God, you invited Andrew to come and see. Let us stay with you, bring others to you as he brought Peter, and let you be formed in us during this holy fast. Amen.
On the feast of Mar Andrews Shleeha, St Andrew the Apostle, the readings speak of how Christ is first found and then formed in us. In John's Gospel Andrew hears the Baptist's word, follows Jesus, stays with him, and at once brings his brother Simon. In Galatians Paul, like a mother in labour, longs for Christ to be “formed” in his converts. Finding Christ is the beginning; letting him take shape in us, and bringing others to him, is the whole Christian life.
Setting.
After a long argument from Scripture (Galatians 3:1–4:11), Paul changes his tone. He turns from argument to a personal appeal, reminding the Galatians of their first meeting and of the love they once showed him. Teachers who demanded circumcision had won their hearts, and Paul fears he has lost his children.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong.” (4:12)
Paul, a Jew, became like a Gentile, living without the Law's ceremonies among them. Now he asks them to become like him: children of God in Christ, not slaves again.
“though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me, but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.” (4:14)
In the ancient world sickness could be seen as a curse, and the Greek of v. 14 literally says “you did not spit”, a gesture against evil. The Galatians saw Christ in a sick stranger, as Jesus taught (Matthew 25:40).
“My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,” (4:19)
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that the Church, contemplating Mary, “becomes herself a mother”: by preaching and baptism she brings to new and immortal life children conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of God (Lumen Gentium 64). Paul's labour pains are the Church's own: every pastor, catechist and parent shares in this work of forming Christ in others. Coming at the start of the journey to Yaldo, the verse reminds us that Christ who was formed in Mary's womb wants to be formed in each of us.
Setting.
John's Gospel opens with a sequence of days (1:29, 35, 43; 2:1). John the Baptist has already pointed Jesus out as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29). Today's passage is the day after: two of the Baptist's disciples leave their master to follow Jesus, and one of them is Andrew. The first disciples come to Jesus through the witness of another.
Andrew, a fisherman from Bethsaida (1:44), was the brother of Simon Peter. The other disciple is not named; many think it is the Beloved Disciple himself, who never names himself in this Gospel.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?”” (1:38)
The first words of Jesus in John's Gospel are a question about desire. He does not begin with a command but asks what we are seeking.
“He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.” (1:39)
Literally “the tenth hour”, as the POC keeps it. The detail sounds like the memory of an eyewitness who never forgot the hour his life changed.
“He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed).” (1:41)
Andrew's first act as a disciple is to bring someone else. He found Christ, and at once he wanted his brother to find him too.
“He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).” (1:42)
How the Church reads it.
The Eastern Churches call Andrew the Prōtoklētos, the “First-called”, because he was among the first to follow Jesus. St John Chrysostom, preaching on this Gospel, praises Andrew because, once he had learned from Jesus, he did not keep the treasure to himself but ran to share it with his brother (in substance). Every Christian vocation follows this pattern: someone points to Christ, we come and stay with him, and then we bring others.
Tradition says that Andrew preached in Greece and the lands around the Black Sea and was martyred at Patras on a cross; the X-shaped cross associated with him comes from later tradition.
Why does Jesus change Simon's name before Simon has done anything?
Because the name is God's gift and mission, not a reward. Jesus sees what Simon will become by grace. Andrew brings him, but Jesus calls him.
What does “Lamb of God” mean?
It joins the Passover lamb whose blood saved Israel, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and the lamb God provides in Genesis 22. Jesus is the one sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world (CCC 608).
Andrew and Peter were brothers, and the Church sees their brotherhood in the Churches that honour them. Peter is remembered in Antioch, the mother Church of the West Syriac tradition to which the Malankara Church belongs, and in Rome, while Constantinople honours Andrew as its patron. Every year on this feast the Pope sends a delegation to the Ecumenical Patriarch, and the Patriarch sends one to Rome for Sts Peter and Paul: a sign of the longing for full unity among Christians. On Mar Andrews' feast the Malankara faithful pray for that unity and ask for Andrew's zeal to bring their own brothers and sisters to Christ.