St. Barnabas - June 11th

 

Picture of St. Barnabas Healing the Sick

Today Holy Mother Church celebrates the memorial of St. Barnabas, the apostle. Although not one of the twelve, the Church does consider him an apostle. His success in preaching was so great, that his name Joseph was changed to Barnabas, meaning “son of exhortation”. After Paul returned from Damascus and attempted to join the Christians in Jerusalem, “they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple of Christ”. But Barnabas brought Paul to the apostles, and told them how he had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken to him: and how in Damascus, he defended the name of Jesus.

We admire the courage of Barnabas in defending a former persecutor of the Church and winning for him, the esteem of his fellow Christians.

When Barnabas saw the need for an extensive harvest, in such a populated city, he “went to Tarsus to seek Paul: whom, when he had found, he brought to Antioch”. He saw that the “harvest was ripe, but the workers were few”. They stayed there for a year, and taught a great many people, such that in Antioch, the disciples were first named Christians.

Together with St. Paul, Barnabas preached the faith in Cyprus and central Asia, and attended the First Council of Jerusalem. But on their return to Antioch, they parted company when St. Barnabas wanted his nephew John Mark to accompany them on their second journey, while St. Paul did not. At St. Paul’s instigation St. Barnabas went back to Cyprus, with his nephew John Mark. St. Barnabas would give his life for His Savior, Jesus Christ, as he would be stoned to death on Cyprus.

With the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, may we preach the Gospel by our words and actions, as St. Barnabas, the holy apostle, of whose memorial we celebrate today.