DAILY- HOMILY

AUGUST 24, 2010
FEAST, ST. BARTHOLOMEW, APOSTLE
TUESDAY 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR II

REVELATION 21:9-14
One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls full of the seven
final plagues came to speak to me and said, 'Come here and I will show
you the bride that the Lamb has married.' In the spirit, he carried me
to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy
city, coming down out of heaven from God. It had all the glory of God
and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond. Its
wall was of a great height and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve
gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of
the twelve tribes of Israel; on the east there were three gates, on
the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three
gates. The city walls stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of
which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

JOHN 1:45-51
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 'We have found him of whom
Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph, from
Nazareth.' Nathanael said to him, 'From Nazareth? Can anything good
come from that place?' Philip replied, 'Come and see.' When Jesus saw
Nathanael coming he said of him, 'There, truly, is an Israelite in
whom there is no deception.' Nathanael asked, 'How do you know me?'
Jesus replied, 'Before Philip came to call you, I saw you under the
fig tree.' Nathanael answered, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are
the king of Israel.' Jesus replied, 'You believe that just because I
said: I saw you under the fig tree. You are going to see greater
things than that.' And then he added, 'In all truth I tell you, you
will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending
over the Son of man.'

REFLECTION
A man named Bartholomew appears in the list of the apostles in each of
the three synoptic gospels. John's gospel speaks of the Twelve but
doesn't give a list of their names. It mentions by name only Peter,
Andrew, Philip and Nathanael. Most biblical scholars identify
Nathanael in John's gospel and Bartholomew in the synoptics.

If we accept this identification, Bartholomew made quite an impression
on Jesus. When Jesus first saw him, he exclaimed, "There is an
Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit." Bartholomew was
brought to Jesus by his friend, Philip, whom Jesus had invited to
follow him on the preceding day.

Philip, as a result of his first experience of Jesus was convinced
that he was the Messiah. So he urged Bartholomew to accompany him to
meet Jesus. He told him that he himself, along with Peter and Andrew,
had found the Messiah, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth. "From
Nazareth," Bartholomew blur ted out, "can anything good come from that
place?"

Philip had used an approach that didn't appeal to Bartholomew. If we
today wanted to persuade a friend to become a Christian, to follow
Christ, how would we go about it? Perhaps we'd line up a series of
rational arguments and hope our friend would see them as proof that
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. However, there may not be too
many people who would be persuaded to believe by rational arguments.

This, of course, is why Philip's attempt to persuade Bartholomew
failed. He gave Bartholomew a rational reason (Philip himself and
Peter and Andrew were convinced Jesus was the Messiah, so therefore
you ought to be convinced) and Philip hoped it would lead Bartholomew
to accept Jesus as the Messiah. So having failed, Philip abandoned
reasoning and said very simply to Bartholomew, "Come and see him for
yourself." Bartholomew went with Philip, was confronted with the
person of Jesus and believed.

Elaborate, complex reasoning, whether theological or other, is not the
way to profound faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus can be found only in a
personal relationship with him.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Virginia Buena Barcelon
- Ely Lara
- Rita P. Cuerva
- Jo Marcelo, Jun Lee, Mon Torres, Francis Torres, Luis Torres
- See Yung Hui
- Susan
… for the personal intentions of
- Titong V.
- Mark Mallett, Fr. Daniel Dubroy, Alexander Chung
- Vince and Cecile
- Patrick and Mary Ann
- J.E.S.
… for the eternal repose of the souls of
- Chari Lauder
- Avelina Sesaldo, William Guanzon, Asilda Guanzon
Eternal rest grant unto them and may perpetual light shine upon them.
May they and all the dearly departed rest in peace.
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Dary Abad
- Birthday: Ricky V. Morabe
- Birthday: Atty. Amalia Casabar
… 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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