26 April 2022
Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter
“Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed; holiness befits your house.”
In today’s first reading, we continue to pray with the Apostles and the lives of the early Church in the book of Acts. We hear of the community’s mind and heart of unity in Christ and of their practices together.
Acts gives us a curious detail about one of their number: “Joseph, also named by the Apostles Barnabas, which is translated as a ‘son of encouragement.’” This Barnabas advocated on behalf of Paul when Paul was a new convert to the faith (Acts 9); Barnabas was a man full of the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11:24); and Barnabas journeyed and preached with Paul in his mission to the Gentiles (Acts 14). In all of this, he received the nickname – a son of encouragement.
This nickname came from his role within the community, and in a sense, was a grace from the Holy Spirit that he shared with those he lived and walked with in mission. Barnabas is a model for us in our Christian life, in whatever communities we live and work within. Let us pray for the grace to be sons and daughters of encouragement for others in our Christian lives, and also that the Lord may send us people like Barnabas to encourage on our path with the Lord.