 |
“The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew”
by Andrea Vaccaro, c. 1660’s |
Readings for the Feast of Saint
Bartholomew [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Revelation 21:9b-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.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Rv 21:9b-14
God
shows St. John the New Jerusalem, Christ’s heavenly kingdom. The evangelist has
borrowed much of his description from Ezekiel (Chapters 40-48). He is taken to
a high mountain (Ezekiel
40 2-3) and sees the heavenly vision, as God’s presence transforms his kingdom
into a radiant fortress. St. John’s description supports images of
evangelization (see 2 Corinthians 4:6). The
repeating number twelve (twelve angels, twelve tribes, twelve names) alludes to
the perfect continuity between God’s relationship with the Old Testament
peoples (Ezekiel
48:30-35 and Exodus 28:17-21) and the
Church (Matthew
19:28 and Luke 22:29-30). He
concludes his vision providing an analogy: the preaching of the apostles (and
prophets) is to the Church as a foundation is to an edifice (see Ephesians 2:20).
CCC:
Rv 21:9 757, 865, 1045, 1138; Rv 21:10-11 865; Rv 21:12-14 765; Rv 21:14 857, 865, 869
-------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:10-11, 12-13, 17-18
R. (12) Your friends make known, O Lord, the
glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
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.
R. Your friends make
known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Making known to men your
might
and the glorious splendor of
your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for
all ages,
and your dominion endures
through all generations.
R. Your friends make
known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
The LORD is just in all his
ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who
call upon him,
to all who call upon him in
truth.
R. Your friends make
known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 145:10-11, 12-13, 17-18
Psalm 145 is a
hymn of praise. These strophes call on the faithful to give thanks to God for
opening the gates of his heavenly kingdom. The psalmist (David) rejoices in the
image of God’s heavenly kingdom as its very existence announces God’s glory to
the world. They continue praising God for his justice and his creating hand.
God in turn supports his faithful servants and blesses their efforts.
-------------------------------------------
Gospel: 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.”
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jn 1:45-51
St.
John’s Gospel gives us the story of the call of Bartholomew (Nathanael). The
symbolism used in the story is rich in the Hebrew tradition. When Jesus
comments: “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him,”
he is referring to Jacob, who first was called Israel but tricked his father
Isaac, receiving his blessing above Esau and therefore was considered
duplicitous. “True child” would relate him to Abraham.
Next,
we hear the Lord respond to Bartholomew when he asks: “How do you know me?”
Jesus says, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
The fig tree is a symbol of messianic peace. In this statement Jesus identifies
himself as the Messiah. Bartholomew understands and immediately responds in
faith: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God.”
There
is a possible reference to Genesis 28:11-17 in the final verse of St. John’s account. The
dream of Jacob sees the same “angels of God ascending and descending.”
Awakening from his dream, Jacob exclaims: “This is nothing else but an abode
of God, and that is the gateway to heaven!"
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
One day, after all that must
happen before heaven is reached, we hope to meet Saint Bartholomew face to face
and discover the mystery of his identity in Sacred Scripture. The mere fact that we do not have piles of
information about him tells us much. He
obviously had a humble bearing and character, befitting an ambassador of Christ
in the world. His legend says he
evangelized vast areas, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow, from
the modern-day Middle East through India.
It is said that he was martyred in Armenia for converting the brother of
a local monarch. Like many of those
killed for the faith in those early years, his passage into physical death was
as horrific as his soul’s immediate entry into the City of God was glorious.
What is important for us is
our belief that, like the communion of saints whose foundation we find in 2 Maccabees 15:7ff, St. Bartholomew will intercede for us. Consider for a moment what we
heard in the reading from St. John’s Revelation: “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.”
Bartholomew is one of the names referred to in that passage, and he can be
praying to our Lord on our behalf! So often we forget that we are joined by a
vast army of saints, whose intercession we can invite.
Beyond the obvious joy we
should feel, knowing that we may call upon this “apostle of the Lamb” for
prayers, we also see his heroic example.
We hear in the Gospel how the Lord himself saw the saintly qualities of
this friend of St. Philip’s. We know
that, even before he was one of the Twelve, he was seen by others as being a
person of faith. This is the real power
we can share with him, our own witness to Christ in the world through our
faith-filled actions, our steadfast beliefs guiding what we say and do.
Like all the saints, we act
with the love of Christ, not so we can be praised (as Bartholomew was praised
by being flayed alive!), but rather that our Heavenly Father might receive the
praise which is his due, for we are nothing without him.
Today we rejoice once more
for a member of the Church’s foundation, one of the Twelve. Saint Bartholomew, pray for us!
Pax
In other years: Thursday of the Twentieth Week
in Ordinary Time
[1]
The picture used is “The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew” by Andrea Vaccaro, c. 1660’s.
[2]
S.S Commemoratio[3]
The readings are taken from the New American
Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by
the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication
is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
No comments:
Post a Comment