Tuesday, August 23, 2005
FEAST, ST. BARTHOLOMEW, APOSTLE
AUGUST 24, 2005
FEAST, ST. BARTHOLOMEW, APOSTLE
WEDNESDAY 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR I
REVELATION 21:9-14
The angel spoke to me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the
bride, the wife of the Lamb." He took me in spirit to a great, high
mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of
heaven from God. It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was
like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal. It had a
massive, high wall, with twelve gates where twelve angels were
stationed and on which names were inscribed, the names of the twelve
tribes of the children of Israel. There were three gates facing east,
three north, three south, and three west. The wall of the city had
twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the
twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
JOHN 1:45-51
Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one about whom
Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph,
from Nazareth." But Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come from
Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael
coming toward him and said of him, "Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him." Nathanael said to him, "How do you know
me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, I saw
you under the fig tree." Nathanael 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 and the angels of
God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
REFLECTION
We know very little about St. Bartholomew, other than that he is
probably the same Apostle that the Evangelist John calls Nathaniel. If
Bartholomew and Nathaniel are indeed one and the same person, we have
one other bit of certain knowledge about him. He was a man of
integrity, a man to whom Jesus paid an extraordinary compliment. Jesus
called him "a man without guile," a man incapable of deceit.
To how many people in today's world can we offer such a compliment?
Think of the number of times we all put on false faces to try to make
ourselves impressive. Think how often we play around with words to
hide or alter the truth, to mislead those with whom we're speaking.
Dishonesty appears to be a fact of life throughout society. Student
surveys show that cheating is widely practiced in schools. Students
cheat, apparently unaware that cheating is immoral. The same might be
said of the corporate officials of private companies, like those we
have been reading in recent world news. One wonders whether these
officials had any sense at all of the evil they were doing, endangering
the jobs and the pension plans of their employees.
Jesus thought guilelessness, integrity to be a value. When he found a
guileless person he complimented him. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing
if Jesus were to call us men and women without guile, men and women of
integrity?
PRAYER
"Heavenly Father, through your Son Jesus Christ, you have opened the
way to heaven for us. As you revealed yourself to your beloved
Patriarchs and Apostles, so reveal yourself to me that I may glorify
you in my daily life. May I always find joy in your presence and never
lose sight of the kingdom of heaven."
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
- for the speedy recovery and safekeeping of Martin Allen Kunz.
- Birthday thanksgiving: Mrs. Teresita Choa-Garcia
- for the personal intentions of Jane Figuerres-Guillermo.
- for the safe travel of Lydia and JP
- for the personal intentions of the Pe Family
- for the safe travel of Veny Yap.
- for the speedy recovery of Ann Maloney.
- for the personal intentions of Julie.
- for the personal intentions of E. Woods.
- for the speedy recovery of Alice Tan.
- for God's healing and special intention of Donna V.
- for the special intentions of Evangelyn.
- for the personal intentions of Revilyn.
- for the eternal repose of the soul of Buddy Gomez, may perpetual
light shine upon him
- for strength and comfort to Dina, Allan, Gian, and Monique Gomez in
their hour of bereavement
- for the peaceful repose of the soul of Patrick McDonnell.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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