The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to adopt the disposition of the first Christian missionaries who approached the Gentiles without privilege and were open to the movement of the Spirit.
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| Like an athlete |
In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Barnabas and Saul are commissioned to bring the Good News to the Gentiles.
* [13:1–3] The impulse for the first missionary effort in Asia Minor is ascribed to the prophets of the Antiochene community, under the inspiration of the holy Spirit. Just as the Jerusalem community had earlier been the center of missionary activity, so too Antioch becomes the center from which the missionaries Barnabas and Saul are sent out.1
Psalm 98 praises the Judge of the World.
* [Psalm 98] A hymn, similar to Ps 96, extolling God for Israel’s victory (Ps 98:1–3). All nations (Ps 98:4–6) and even inanimate nature (Ps 98:7–8) are summoned to welcome God’s coming to rule over the world (Ps 98:9).2
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus commissions the apostles to “proclaim the good news.”
* [10:8–11] The Twelve have received their own call and mission through God’s gift, and the benefits they confer are likewise to be given freely. They are not to take with them money, provisions, or unnecessary clothing; their lodging and food will be provided by those who receive them.3
Tom Purcell thinks, in today’s situation, Jesus would tell us to relinquish our fear of the unknown. He would ask us to calm our anger at the changed economic and life security circumstances that are beyond our personal control. He most assuredly would condemn our hatred and prejudice for those who we think of as the other.
And so, my prayer today is for the grace to be ever mindful of how I have unknowingly treated others with prejudice, how I have failed to be sensitive to my positions of privilege, and for the strength to open my arms and unclench my fists in solidarity with Jesus and all my sisters and brothers.4
Don Schwager quotes “Taming the Tongue,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD).
"What are we to do? Whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire. But no human being can tame the tongue. Will everyone therefore go to the hell of fire? By no means. Lord, you have become our refuge from generation to generation (Psalm 90:1). Your wrath is just. You send no one to hell unjustly. Where shall I go from your spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence (Psalm 139:7), unless to you? Thus let us understand, my dearly beloved, that if no human being can tame the tongue, we must take refuge in God, who will tame it. Does your own human nature prevent you from taming your tongue? No human being can tame the tongue (James 3:8). Consider this analogy from the animals that we tame. A horse does not tame itself; a camel does not tame itself; an elephant does not tame itself; a snake does not tame itself; a lion does not tame itself. So too a man does not tame himself. In order to tame a horse, an ox, a camel, an elephant, a lion and a snake, a human being is required. Therefore God should be required in order for a human being to be tamed. (excerpt from Sermon 55:2)5
The Word Among Us Meditation website shares the Collect for the Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle.
O God, who decreed that Saint Barnabas,a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit,should be set apart to convert the nations,grant that the Gospel of Christ,which he strenuously preached,may be faithfully proclaimed by word and by deed.Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, for ever and ever. Amen.6
The meditation compares Barnabas to an athlete.
Barnabas kept training and developing his faith. He became a leader in the church in Antioch. He took St. Paul under his wing. And together with his cousin John Mark and Paul, he launched one of the Church’s first missionary journeys. He persevered in his mission after enduring a painful falling-out with Paul. In the end, Barnabas died a martyr’s death, faithful to the end.
Barnabas shows us that Jesus never stops coaching; he never stops helping us grow and deepen our faith. And just as a coach knows his athletes will not always win, Jesus knows that we will sometimes fall short. But we need to be like the athlete who doesn’t give up—like Barnabas. Our efforts will pay off. And when they do, all of heaven will celebrate!6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the great effect that Paul and Barnabas had on conversion of Gentiles. Friar Jude comments on the USCCB Gospel selection from the Sermon on the Mount. Friar Jude reminds us that “killling” begins in the many ways that we might express negative impressions of others.
A post by Franciscan Media about Saint Barnabas Saint of the Day for June 11, shares what we know about this saint from the Acts of the Apostles.
Barnabas is spoken of simply as one who dedicated his life to the Lord. He was a man “filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. Thereby, large numbers were added to the Lord.” Even when he and Paul were expelled from Antioch in Pisidia—modern-day Turkey—they were “filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments many people naturally grow into nondual consciousness through great suffering or great love. Barbara Holmes suggests that “crisis contemplation” arose out of necessity during slavery, beginning in the Middle Passage when people were transported across the ocean as human cargo. In times such as this, contemplation becomes the soul’s strategy of survival.
As unlikely as it may seem, the contemplative moment can be found at the very center of such ontological crises . . . during the Middle Passage in the holds of slave ships . . . on the auction blocks . . . and in the . . . hush arbors [where slaves worshipped in secret]. Each event is experienced by individuals stunned into multiple realities by shock, journey, and displacement. . . . In the words of Howard Thurman, “when all hope for release in this world seems unrealistic and groundless, the heart turns to a way of escape beyond the present order.” [1] For captured Africans, there was no safety except in common cause and the development of internal and spiritual fortitude. . . .8
Our contemplation of our current situation is an opportunity to review our mission to bring the other, through love, into our community.
References
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