Jesus Himself spoke highly of St. Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, calling him “a true child of Israel.” (John 1:47)
Reflections on the readings for the Feast of St. Bartholomew (August 24, 2022): REV 21:9-14; PS 145:10-11,12-13,17-18; JN 1:45-51
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
The Church needs everyday saints, those of ordinary life carried out coherence; but she also needs those who … accept the grace to be witnesses to the end, unto death.
Today we honor an Apostle who was mentioned only a few times in the New Testament. St. Bartholomew, who is traditionally thought to be the Nathaniel spoken of in today’s Gospel, was introduced to Jesus by St. Philip. Christ recognizes him as a loyal Jew and an honest and honorable man. He was utterly amazed when our Lord proceeded to say that He had seen him under the fig tree. “Nathaniel answered Him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.’ And He said to him, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened up and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’” (John 1:49-51). The reference to angels surely recalls the Old Testament story of Jacob’s Ladder with angels going up and down between heaven and earth. What Bartholomew and the rest of the Twelve are beginning to learn is that Christ is Himself the true connection between Almighty God and His people, between time and eternity.
When the time came for the Apostles to spread out and preach the word of God and share the gift of redemption, Bartholomew is believed to have gone first to India, and later to Armenia. And it is there he was probably martyred, most likely by being flayed. Relics of St. Bartholomew have long been located at a 10th century church in Rome named in his honor. In more recent years, that same church, now a basilica, has also been dedicated to more recent martyrs of the 20th and 21st centuries. On a visit there, Pope Francis said: “We have come as pilgrims to this Basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Tiber Island, where the ancient history of martyrdom unites with the memory of the new martyrs. … A martyr can be thought of as a hero, but the fundamental thing about a martyr is that he or she was graced: it is the grace of God, not courage, that makes us martyrs. … The Church needs everyday saints, those of ordinary life carried out coherence; but she also needs those who … accept the grace to be witnesses to the end, unto death. All those are the living blood of the Church.” Let us find in St. Bartholomew, like the other Apostles and early disciples, a deep source of inspiration for living out our faith in Christ.
