2:08 am

The Catholic Calendar for Friday, June 11, 2004
Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Barnabas, apostle

Scripture from Friday’s Liturgy of the Word:
Acts 11:21-26; 13:1-3
Psalm 98:1-6
Matthew 5:27-32

A reflection on today’s Sacred Scripture:

If I were given the choice of which apostle to meet personally, I think I’d choose Barnabas. While not strictly one of the twelve, he was most definitely a key player in the story of the early Church. His name means “son of encouragement”, and that’s exactly what he did--promoting Paul, insisting that he was trustworthy, encouraging the Christians at Antioch, traveling with Paul on an arduous missionary journey.

Barnabas quite evidently had a precious and special gift of easing difficult situations, and of picking up people’s drooping spirits. Yes, I would definitely like to meet Barnabas.

The next best thing to meeting Barnabas would be to imitate his virtues. I find that people need encouragement. There is too much depression in people’s hearts these days. We need to encourage them and love them, really work at pulling them out of the “dumps.” Mother Teresa of Calcutta gave as part of her spiritual advice, “Never, never, never give in to discouragement.”

Lord, help me to put on a cheery smile, help me to utter a cheery word, help my heart to be filled with joy even in the face of sickness, pain, and heartbreak. In so doing, I will be another Barnabas, building the kingdom in my neighborhood.

- Msgr. Paul E. Whitmore
(smartins at twcny dot rr dot com)
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As we talked about a passion for God, a growing awareness of his presence, and a desire to do whatever I can to increase that, I realised that the thing which cultivated this passion in me, was to read and tell stories of Jesus.

This blog provides Daily stories of Jesus - some straight from various translations of the gospels, I hope about once a week- a re-told story. I find that the more I hear stories of Jesus , and the more we hear them, the more I discover what it means for us to have a passion for Jesus in our lives, and an deeper involvement with him.

As I ponder the stories I post, I am finding more and more that things hit me a few days later. What better to occupy my mind than stories of Jesus.

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