Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
Today the Church celebrates and remembers the life of St. Bartholomew, known also, as seen in our Gospel, as Nathanael. He begins somewhat like St. Thomas ends, essentially saying to Philip, "I'll believe it when I see it,” before later saying, in essence, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Jesus says to our saint “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?” (John 1:50); likewise He says to St. Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me” (John 20:29)? Bartholomew’s conversion occurred when he experienced being seen, being known by Jesus; Thomas needed to see Jesus, to grasp Him. Bartholomew would go on to India, as Thomas would, but would come back west to Armenia, there to die after being skinned alive and beheaded.
What does he have to teach us in today’s Gospel? So often we dismiss the mundane, the ordinary, or even the broken and failed, especially if it is something we have already seen, known, or otherwise experienced. Bartholomew dismissed the possibility that anything good—much less the tremendous good of Israel’s salvation!—could come from a ho-hum place like Nazareth. Yet, from there precisely does the Messiah, the Son of God, come.
When we consider our own encounters with the Lord, are there people, places, experiences, and so on that we dismiss to easily? Are we opening to encountering Jesus not only in the mundane and ordinary, but even in people, in ways we have already dismissed, or perhaps did not encounter Him previously? For if we are open, then He might say to us as He says to Bartholomew today, “You will see greater things than this.”