St. Bartholomew

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Bartholomew.

During the course of the New Testament, St. Bartholomew is only mentioned in the lists of the apostles since he was indeed an apostle. Some scholars actually tend to identify him with Nathanael, who was a man of Cana in Galilee who was summoned to Jesus by Philip. Jesus actually had paid him a great compliment he said; “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him” (John 1:47b). When Nathanael had asked how Jesus had known about him, Jesus said, “I saw you under the fig tree” (John 1:48b). This amazing revelation led Nathanael to exclaim, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:49b). However Jesus had responded to this with, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this” (John 1:50b).

In fact during his time with Jesus, Nathanael was indeed able to witness greater things. He was one of those people who Jesus had appeared to on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias after his resurrection (see John 21:1-14). They had also been fishing all night without any success at all. However, when the morning had came around, they saw someone standing on the shore and none of them knew that it was Jesus. He later told them to cast their net once again, and they made such a great a catch that they could not haul the net in. Then John cried out to Peter, “It is the Lord.”

When they had later brought the boat to the shore, they were able to find a fire that was burning, and it had some fish laid on it and some bread. Jesus had asked them to bring some of the fish they had caught, and he had invited them to come and eat their meal. John states that although they knew that it was truly Jesus, none of the apostles presumed to inquire who he was. This event, John notes, was the third time Jesus appeared to the apostles.

St. Bartholomew ( St. Nathanael) is the patron saint of plasterers and his feast day is celebrated on August 24.

Prayer to St. Bartholomew:

St. Bartholomew through your life we see why it is so important to trust in Christ and not question his plans for us. St. Bartholomew help us to surrender ourselves to Christ and help us to trust his plan for us even if it may seem hard or stressful to do.

Amen

St. Bartholomew pray for us

St. Joseph pray for us

May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.

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Works cited

Information (read from, not taken):

Franciscan media. “Saint Bartholomew. ”Saint Bartholomew | Franciscan Media. Accessed August 24, 2021.

Images:

Saint Bartholomew. August 24, 2021. Saint Bartholomew - Google Search.