Trong bài đọc Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta nghe Chúa Giêsu hướng dẫn các môn đệ, những người mà Ngài sẽ trao cho nhiệm vụ là rao giảng Nước Trời. Họ sẽ chữa lành tất cả các bệnh tật, làm cho kẻ chết được sống lại và trừ được ma quỉ. Ngài đã hướng dẫn họ không được mang tất cả những gì cho cuộc hành trình rao giảng của, họ phải ra đi với bàn tay trắng và cây gậy đi đường, họ phải biết tin tưởng vào sự quan phòng của Thiên Chúa qua sự nương dựa vào sự tiếp đón và hiếu khách của những người tiếp nhận họ.
Tất cả chúng ta có lẽ sẽ không rao giảng hùng hồn được như Thánh Phêrô. Chúng ta sẽ không thể lôi kkéo cả ngàn tín đồ về với Chúa như thánh Phaolô. Chúng ta cũng không có thể hiểu được thong minh về thần học như thánh Gioan. Chúng ta cũng không có thể làm cho kẻ chết được sống hay chữa bệnh hay nói tiếng lạ, nhưng tất cả chúng ta cũng nên học hỏi và bắt chước thánh Barnabas. Tất cả chúng ta nên học hỏi để khuyến khích anh chị em của chúng ta nên biết sống và trở nên những người Kitô Hữu tốt hơn. Tất cả chúng ta hãy ráng trở nên là những người con xứng đáng của Chúa trong những lời nói và việc làm hàng ngày của chúng ta
In the first reading, we have a depiction of an exemplary disciple in the early church. This is Barnabas, a good man. Barnabas comes across as a reliable, obedient and influential man, who collaborates with the Spirit in converting the nations and proclaiming the Lord Jesus by words and deeds. The church in Jerusalem sends him to mission in Antioch. We are told that he sees the working of the Spirit in Antioch. His labour consolidates the faith of the Antioch community and his preaching contributes to the increase of the community. The critical mass of prophets and teachers in Antioch includes Barnabas and Saul of Tarsus, latterly known as Paul, whom Barnabas takes under his wing.
May the Lord’s peace and love prevail in our Church and in the world. St. Barnabas, pray for us.
I always admired Barnabas. His name, which means “Son of Encouragement”, reminds me of a guy I knew in high school, Joe. He was a delight to be around, and everyone else was better when he was with us. He was one of the best advertisements for Christianity I have ever known, truly a lampstand. I was always disappointed that he was some sort of Evangelical Christian and not a Catholic, that he did not play for our team, so to speak. I imagine Barnabas to be a lot like him, with a word of encouragement for everyone and never a personal attack, neither to a person’s face nor behind their back, not with meaningless compliments but actual encouragement. Blessed is everyone around a Barnabas.
Encouragement, it seems to me, is an eighth gift of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, encouragement is not only a gift of the Holy Spirit but also a title. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Encouragement. The Holy Spirit brings encouragement where it is needed by giving this gift to someone near a person whom he is pleased to encourage and is, thereby, the Spirit of Encouragement that every Barnabas is the son of.
Today we read that Barnabas went to Antioch and encouraged everyone “for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.” This kind of encouragement is more truly a proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit than speaking in tongues or prophecy. The evil spirit gives prophecies, but only the Holy Spirit gives encouragement to Christians. We see a characteristic of that encouragement when Barnabas goes up to Tarsus and finds Paul. A true Barnabas looks for the God-given gifts in others and is not jealous but rather rejoices.
We Christians are not all going to preach like Peter. We will not all count converts by the thousands like Paul. We do not all have the theological mind of John. We may not raise the dead or cure the sick or speak in tongues or prophesy, but we all should learn to emulate Barnabas. We all should learn to encourage our brothers and sisters to be better Christians. We should all be sons and daughters of encouragement – not mere human encouragement: patronizing, saccharine words – but the encouragement of the Spirit of Encouragement, who fills our hearts, who always has a word or action ready for us to share with another. When you see a person in need, just listen to that Spirit and speak the encouragement
St. Barnabas, a Cypriot, was one of the earliest Jews to join the young Christian community. He sold a piece of land and brought the money to the apostles to use for the Christian community. Here we see his generosity.
When Saul was converted by the Lord in Damascus, Barnabas took charge of him and introduced him to the apostles in Jerusalem. Afterwards, he was commissioned to go with Saul, now called Paul, to preach in far-away countries and to non-Jews. St. Barnabas was stoned to death in Salamis, Cyprus in 61 AD.
This tells us to be missionaries – to tell non-believers about Jesus, even our family members who have stopped believing in God and are so pre-occupied with earning money or having a good time. We are called to bring the Good News of salvation to others because there are people hungry for it.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus says that true virtue is more than just being good and upright. We are told to reconcile with those who are angry with us, regardless of who is right or wrong. The world needs peacemakers, people who answer evil with good. Enough of "patigasan," people should learn to reconcile because we know that we will not always be in total agreement with others. And so if we have a quarrel with someone, we must pray for the grace to reconcile with him/her. And if everyone has this attitude, won't the world be a better place to live in?
He was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. (Acts 11:24)
When your ceiling falls in and water starts gushing from above, you call a plumber. When your house catches fire, you call the fire department. When you hear that a new church has sprung up in Antioch, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, who do you call? A peacemaker! Even in those early days, leaders in the Church knew that when a large number of zealous, excited people get together, they need a guiding hand and some skilled mediation.So the apostles sent Barnabas.
This isn’t the only place in the Scriptures where we encounter this fellow. Other stories help round out our image of who Barnabas is and what sort of character traits he has. When he is first introduced, we learn that his real name is Joseph, but the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36). Then, every time he appears in Acts or Paul’s letters, we hear of him as a peacemaker, as someone widely respected in the Church. Indeed, he must have been a solid, reliable man, to be sent to a faraway city on such an important mission!
We’d all like to be peacemakers. But it isn’t enough to want it. Bringing peace to a stressful situation—helping people to experience God’s calm—can be quite a challenge. How do we know what to say to defuse an argument or bring people together in harmony? A great clue is in Barnabas name, and in the first thing he did when he got to Antioch: encouragement.
Peacemaking doesn’t involve having all the answers. It doesn’t mean taking control of a situation and mastering everyone involved. The first step can often be just a simple boost. “You’re doing great.” “I’m proud of you; hang in there.” Even if we have no other wisdom to offer, a few genuine encouraging words can defuse a tense situation. It can soften hearts and start people on the path to reconciliation. Your hopeful, peace-filled attitude can be contagious, in fact.
So the next time you’re in a stressful situation that needs a peacemaker, remember Barnabas, and try to become a son or daughter of encouragement as well! “Lord, help me to be a peacemaker and serve you as faithfully as Barnabas did.”
Three years later, after Saint Paul had undergone his conversion to the Christian faith and spent three years fasting and praying in Arabia, he traveled to Jerusalem to consult with the Apostles. The Apostles and the Christian community were at first hesitant to receive him, for they were aware of the persecutions he had issued against the Church. Barnabas, however, “brought him to the apostles, and he reported to them how on the way he had seen the Lord and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus” (Acts 9:27). After spending a short period of time in Jerusalem, Saint Paul returned to his hometown of Tarsus to avoid persecution. He remained in Tarsus for the next several years.
During that time, some of the Christians who left Jerusalem after the martyrdom of Saint Stephen traveled north to Antioch in Syria, where many Greek Gentiles lived. In Antioch, the Greek-speaking Christians began to preach the Word of God to the Gentiles. As a result, many of the Gentiles converted and accepted the faith. When the Apostles in Jerusalem heard about this, they sent Barnabas to minister to these new converts. Barnabas was so impressed that he went to find Saint Paul in Tarsus and brought him back to Antioch to help share the Good News. It was there, in Antioch, that the word “Christian” was first used, perhaps because the new converts were Gentiles who converted not to the Jewish faith, but directly to Christ.
After a year in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas returned to Jerusalem on a relief mission to assist those suffering from a famine. They brought with them money that was raised among the Christians in Antioch. After returning to Antioch, the Holy Spirit revealed to the Christian community that Paul and Barnabas were to be “set apart” for a special mission. The two were then ordained as bishops and sent forth on a mission, bringing with them Barnabas’ relative, John Mark, the Gospel writer. Over the next year, they traveled to Seleucia, Cyprus, Salamis, Paphos, Perga of Pamphylia, Antioch of Pisidia, Lystra, Derbe, Iconium, and back to Antioch, Syria. During this journey, they won many converts; some Greeks even tried to worship the two as gods. They also encountered opposition, including an unsuccessful attempt to kill Paul by stoning. The two later returned to Jerusalem to help settle disputes about Gentile converts before being sent off on another mission. Before the second journey, Barnabas and Paul disagreed about John Mark’s involvement in the mission, since John Mark had previously abandoned them for an unknown reason while in Pamphylia. The disagreement was so severe that Paul and Barnabas parted ways. Barnabas took John Mark with him to Cyprus, and Paul took Silas with him to Syria and Cilicia.
Nothing else is known for certain about Barnabas’ missionary activity with John Mark in Cyprus. Based on Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and his letter to the Colossians, the disagreement the two had over John Mark did not have any lasting effect on their friendship. Even John Mark is later affectionately mentioned by Paul.
The only source we have that details Barnabas’ martyrdom comes from the fifth century, which makes its historicity uncertain. According to that tradition, Barnabas was preaching the Gospel around the year 61 and was arrested, dragged out of the city, and either burned to death or stoned. One tradition states that John Mark found his remains and buried them.
Another legend holds that in the year 478, Saint Barnabas appeared to the Archbishop of Cyprus and revealed the location of his burial to him. Archbishop Anthimos then found Saint Barnabas’ body incorrupt, holding the Gospel of Matthew. The Roman emperor then erected a church at the site and buried Saint Barnabas there. Though the church was later lost to history, excavations of the site have found a tomb believed to be that of Saint Barnabas. Saint Barnabas is the patron saint of Cyprus because he was the first missionary bishop on that island.
As we honor this great apostolic bishop, ponder the impact his ministry has had over time. Although the number of converts during his lifetime might have only been in the hundreds or thousands, the effect those converts had on subsequent generations multiplied over and over again. Saint Barnabas traveled, preached, baptized, celebrated the sacraments, and founded many Christian communities. He endured rejection, hardship, violence, and martyrdom, but he pressed on. His fervor stemmed from knowing his Lord, not only through his firsthand witness of Jesus’ ministry but also through his life of prayer and his reception of the Holy Spirit. Try to see his mission as one similar to yours. You, too, are called to zealously preach the Gospel to others. Do not hesitate to do so, no matter the cost. Pray that God uses you as He wills, and offer yourself to His service in imitation of this holy Apostle.
Prayer: Saint Barnabas, you listened to the Gospel from the mouth of Christ Himself, witnessed His miracles, and allowed His saving message to transform your life. As a result, you spent the rest of your life preaching the Good News and saving many souls. Please pray for me, that I will follow your example and dedicate my life to the mission to which I am called. Saint Barnabas, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
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