Tag: Saint Bartholomew

“You are the Son of God.” | Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle

From the responsorial psalm: “Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD, and let your faithful ones bless you. Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 1:45-51)

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.”

When Philip tells Nathanael (known as the apostle Bartholomew) that they have found the Messiah, Nathanael is skeptical, saying, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip then gives him this simple invitation: “Come and see.” When Nathanael approaches Jesus, Jesus recognizes the virtue in him as one who is free from duplicity, or deceit. Nathanael is surprised and asks how Jesus knows him. Jesus tells him that he saw him under the fig tree before Philip called him. This then leads Nathanael to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God and the King of Israel. Jesus responds by saying that Nathanael will witness heaven opened and angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. The simple invitation of Philip to come and see the Lord leads Nathanael to see firsthand the glorious splendor of God’s kingdom.

God, just as Philip called Nathanael, help me recognize the simple invitations I hear throughout the day to come to you. Help me approach the day not with skepticism and knowingness but with childlike faith that you see me at all times and call me to witness you in your glory. Lord, take the limited vision I have of doing your will and bless me with every grace I need to accomplish it. Nathanael recognized Jesus as your Son. As I approach the Eucharist and as the day unfolds, help me do the same.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 1:45-51)

“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.”

In today’s Gospel, John describes Jesus’ first encounter with Bartholomew, traditionally identified with Nathaniel. Philip tells Nathaniel that he has found the Messiah. Nathaniel’s skeptical reply is “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And then as Jesus sees him, Nathaniel witnesses a miracle. In response to Nathaniel, Jesus says, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathaniel asks Jesus, “How do you know me?” Jesus tells him that before Philip called him, he saw Nathaniel under the fig tree. Nathaniel answers with a beautiful confession of faith, and Jesus tells him: “You will see greater things than this. . . . You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Lord, just as Nathaniel witnessed firsthand the intimate knowledge Jesus had of him—“How do you know me?”—you know me also and desire for me to be a witness of the extraordinary. You reveal to John in the first reading a radiant glimpse of your glory to come, the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, gleaming with your splendor. Yet, today is just another so-called ordinary day. Help me, Lord, recognize your divinity just as Nathaniel came to see Jesus, the Son of Joseph from Nazareth, for who he truly is, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the one whose dominion endures through all generations.

From the responsorial psalm: “Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD, and let your faithful ones bless you. Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might.” Saint Bartholomew, apostle of Christ, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle

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.”

Today’s Gospel reading from John relates how the first disciples began to follow Jesus. After Philip becomes a disciple, he finds Nathanael and tells him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” The day before, Andrew and John began to follow Jesus and then Andrew’s brother, Simon Peter, also followed him. There is something here that sounds like how a group of friends first forge a friendship or how a rock group is formed around a common identity or aim. Unlike this, though, the disciples have no idea what they are in for in the days ahead as Jesus says to them: “You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

God, help me understand what John the Baptist understood as he pointed your son out to the first disciples: he is the Lamb of God. In Nathanael’s response to Philip—“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”—I see a kind of cynicism that is similar to my own. The glory of the holy city of Jerusalem as described in the first reading gleams with splendor and has at the foundation of its walls the “twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.” Here is the glory of God at work in his followers, the first disciples; he takes them to himself and makes them the foundation of his holy kingdom.

Lord, thank you for this new day! Sometimes the anticipation of all that must take place and should take place—its pressures—overshadow that the day itself is a gift. “You will see greater things than this,” Jesus says. Let me see in this day the radiance of your glory outshine the shadow of uncertainty and skepticism and whatever is passing and false. Be with me, Lord, and let me remember the words of the psalmist: “The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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