Jun 10 2024 5 mins
St Barnabas, Apostle "Mt 10:7-13"
Jesus said to his apostles, "preach as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay. Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the labourer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart. As you enter the house, salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you." This is the commandment for all Christians: "Preach as you go." Wherever you go, whatever you do, whomever you are with, whoever you are... preach as you go! Today we celebrate the feast of St Barnabas, the apostle. He wasn't one of the Twelve but probably was among the 72 disciples who Jesus sent to preach ahead of Him. In today's Gospel we read the instructions that Jesus gave to them, and that we can summarise as: 'preach as you go, and don't worry about anything else; just rely on God.' And that is exactly what St Barnabas did. We know two important things about Barnabas. 1) He was generous: he "sold a field which belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet" to be distributed among the needy. 2) He was a 'good scout' a great ‘talent-spotter'. After the martyrdom of St Stephen many Christians ran away from Jerusalem. Many went to Antioch and spread their faith there. The Apostles heard of it and sent St Barnabas there. In Antioch he found that Christians had multiplied by the thousands. He realised he couldn't cope with all that apostolic work by himself, and so he did something that changed the history of the world: "Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch." He searched for St Paul and set him to work. God called St Paul with the help of St Barnabas. You see? Saul became St Paul because Barnabas went for him! You and I are apostles who have to look for more apostles, find them, bring them to Jesus and, together with them, change the course of history. Holy Mary, Queen of the Apostles, help me to be generous, to be an apostle and to set out to find others whom God wants to make into apostles too.
Jesus said to his apostles, "preach as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay. Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the labourer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart. As you enter the house, salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you." This is the commandment for all Christians: "Preach as you go." Wherever you go, whatever you do, whomever you are with, whoever you are... preach as you go! Today we celebrate the feast of St Barnabas, the apostle. He wasn't one of the Twelve but probably was among the 72 disciples who Jesus sent to preach ahead of Him. In today's Gospel we read the instructions that Jesus gave to them, and that we can summarise as: 'preach as you go, and don't worry about anything else; just rely on God.' And that is exactly what St Barnabas did. We know two important things about Barnabas. 1) He was generous: he "sold a field which belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet" to be distributed among the needy. 2) He was a 'good scout' a great ‘talent-spotter'. After the martyrdom of St Stephen many Christians ran away from Jerusalem. Many went to Antioch and spread their faith there. The Apostles heard of it and sent St Barnabas there. In Antioch he found that Christians had multiplied by the thousands. He realised he couldn't cope with all that apostolic work by himself, and so he did something that changed the history of the world: "Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch." He searched for St Paul and set him to work. God called St Paul with the help of St Barnabas. You see? Saul became St Paul because Barnabas went for him! You and I are apostles who have to look for more apostles, find them, bring them to Jesus and, together with them, change the course of history. Holy Mary, Queen of the Apostles, help me to be generous, to be an apostle and to set out to find others whom God wants to make into apostles too.