Reflection on Today's Readings, the Feast of St. Bartholomew, August 24th, 2021
Texts: Rev. 21:9b-14; Ps.145:10-13ab.17-18; John 1:45-51
Today is the feast of St. Bartholomew who has also been recognised as Nathanael. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. He came from Galilee. He was led to Jesus Christ by Philip. Hence, today's Readings remind us of the importance of a lead to Christ. No one come to Christ by himself; we are all led to Christ. This reemphasizes the word of Jesus Christ last Sunday: “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65). The Holy Spirit also leads us to Christ. This is the case in today's first reading, "An angel spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal." Here, the Spirit led St. John to see the Bride of the Lamb, which is the Church. This means the Spirit leads us to see what the Church truly is, the sacrament and Ark of salvation. It is in the Spirit that we see the Church coming from God to fulfil a divine mandate. It is in the Spirit that we see the glory of God abiding in the Church.
In today's gospel reading Nathanael was led to Jesus by Philip. It is said, "Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, 'We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.' Nathanael said to him, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.'" Here, Nathanael was led to the Bridegroom, the lamb and who was Jesus Christ. To come to Jesus Christ, we need the Father to draw us, the Holy Spirit to guide us and follow the faith handed down by the apostles and other witnesses. If we are to be part of the Church, we need to stand on the foundation laid by the apostles.
The words, "come and see" and "come, I will show you the Bride of the Lamb" are invitations to a new revelation. The gospel encourages us to follow a witness to a new knowledge and revelation. Philip was a witness who had encountered Jesus Christ and had come to believe that He was the Messiah, the hope of Israel. The first reading encourages us to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit to a new knowledge and revelation. We are not to follow the lead of the flesh. The flesh cannot lead us to the knowledge and revelation of Jesus Christ. The witness and Spirit are the sure leads to the knowledge and revelation of God.
One thing we are to emulate in the life of Bartholomew is to be true. Jesus describes him thus: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” This encourages us to be true to ourselves. We are to be true to our faith. Concerning this, Pazhayampallil says, "We must not only be Christians, but true Christians. We must not only be religious, but true religious. We must not only be priests, but true priests. .... In Nathanael there was no guile, no duplicity, no hypocrisy, no double-dealing, no cheating, no cunning, no untruth, no lie, no deception, no trickery, no bluff, no disguise. We must be sincere, open, frank, truthful, honest, pure. We must first of all be sincere with God. We must confess our sins to God. We must receive the sacrament of penance often. We must be sincere in our dealing with our neighbour. Our 'Yes' must be 'Yes.' Our 'No' must be 'No.' We must be sincere with ourselves. We must not pretend to be what we are not. We must act at all times according to what is right. We must not be too much worried about what others say of us" (Words of Eternal Life, vol. 2, p. 223).
Lord our God, thank You for what You have made possible for us to learn from the life of St. Bartholomew; may we always enjoy the benefits of his intercession. Amen.
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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