Word to the Wise
Saturday, June 11, 2022 - June 11 - St. Barnabas, Apostle
[Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3 and Matt 5:33-37]In those days a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. And a large number of people was added to the Lord. Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch." [Acts]
St. Barnabas could be the patron saint of talent hunters or those who work in the background to make bigger things happen. We do not know how he became aware of the potential in the new convert, Saul (St. Paul). It may be that he heard of him in Antioch, but, in any case Barnabas undertook a long journey to Tarsus to find Saul and bring him back to Antioch as a c-worker. Otherwise, Saul might have stayed in Tarsus, making a living as a tent-maker!!! In any case, the rest is history. Saul became Paul and his missionary efforts along with his letters laid the international foundation for Christianity. So we owe a great deal to Barnabas!
There are many people like Barnabas who consider the task more important than themselves and don't mind who gets the headlines. Barnabas could see the potential in Paul and went and got him to come and preach. We have no letters from Barnabas. St. Luke, of course, speaks of him in the Acts of the Apostles (quotation above) and Paul mentions him in Galatians and First Corinthians. But what Barnabas did (besides preaching with Paul) is to show us how an invitation on our part to someone else to use their special talents can have a tremendous impact. The evidence of Barnabas' contribution is in front of us every time we open the New Testament. AMEN