Our Lady of Guadalupe

Date: August, 24

St. Bartholomew was one of the original twelve Apostles. Being a close friend of Christ, being transformed by Him, faithful to Him, and later evangelizing and giving up his life for Him, we look up to St. Bartholomew as an example of holiness.

As an Apostle, he is, as well, one of the foundational stones of the Church, and a source of her apostolic authority from Our Lord. All that is known of him with certainty is that he is mentioned in the synoptic gospels and Acts of the Apostles as one of the twelve apostles.

His name, a patronymic, means “son of Tolomai” and scholars believe he is the same as Nathanael mentioned in John, who says he is from Cana and that Jesus called him an “Israelite…incapable of deceit.” In the New Testament, Bartholomew is mentioned only in the lists of the apostles.

Some scholars identify him with Nathanael, a man of Cana in Galilee who was summoned to Jesus by Philip. Jesus paid him a great compliment: “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him” (John 1:47b). When Nathanael asked how Jesus knew him, Jesus said, “I saw you under the fig tree” (John 1:48b).

Whatever amazing revelation this involved, it brought Nathanael to exclaim, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:49b). But Jesus countered with, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this” (John 1:50b).

Nathanael did see greater things. He was one of those to whom Jesus appeared on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias after his resurrection (see John 21:1-14).

They had been fishing all night without success. In the morning, they saw someone standing on the shore though no one knew it was Jesus. He told them to cast their net again, and they made so great a catch that they could not haul the net in. Then John cried out to Peter, “It is the Lord.”

When they brought the boat to shore, they found a fire burning, with some fish laid on it and some bread. Jesus asked them to bring some of the fish they had caught, and invited them to come and eat their meal.

John relates that although they knew it was Jesus, none of the apostles presumed to inquire who he was. This, John notes, was the third time Jesus appeared to the apostles.

PRAYER

Saint Bartholomew, Jesus recognized  your honesty and you saw in his word a sign that he was the Son of God and King of Israel. Please pray that we too may preserve our innocence and help us to deepen our faith, walking the way of our daily life with God.

May we discern through the Power of the Holy Spirit the path that leads to Jesus, eventually uniting us to him forever in heaven. Amen