Follow back a me!

Jamaicans have this cute expression: "Follow back a me."  On this feast of St. Andrew, one of the apostles, this is what Jesus basically asks him (and us) to do, "Follow back a me!"  During my meditation this a.m., I wondered what on earth must have made Jesus so special that Andrew, Peter, James and John immediately left everything to follow him.  Notice that the adverb immediately is repeated in today's reading (Mt 4, 18-22).  What did they see in him?  What made him so attractive that would make them ready to leave everything behind?  Whatever it was, he must have exuded such a sweet perfume of holiness, joy, peace, innocence, trustworthiness, and, above all, charity.  It must have been apparent that he was a virtuous man.  Otherwise, why would they have left their livelihood to follow this man? I don't think they yet realized this man was God at this stage.  They, like others in Israel, were looking and waiting for a Messiah, but what kind of Messiah were they expecting?  What kind of Messiah are we expecting to find at the end of this Advent season?  Do we recognize Jesus in our everyday lives and in the persons we meet?  Do we meet Him in the Scriptures and in the breaking of the bread?  I invite my readers to take up the Scriptures daily and meditate on them so as to discover Jesus working in your daily life.  As Paul says to the Romans in today's first reading, "Whoever confesses with his mouth that 'Jesus is Lord' and believes in his heart that God raised Him from the dead, he will be saved."