The Feast of St. Barnabas, Saturday, June 11, 2022

Acts 11, 21-26; 13, 1-3

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. For a whole year they met with the Church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.  Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them off.

“For he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.”  Nothing greater can be said of a Christian than this.  St. Barnabas, or Joseph, as he was also called, came from the island of Cyprus, born of Jewish parents.  From the Acts of the Apostles we learn that he was a Levite.  We also know from this source that he was related to St. Mark.  He was living in or around Jerusalem after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, and became a member of the Church shortly thereafter, which we find from Acts 4, 36-37: “Thus Joseph who was surnamed by the Apostles Barnabas (which means, Son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field which belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”  Because St. Luke mentions him by name and because both men became attached to St. Paul, we can assume that they knew one another and that, in fact, Barnabas became an important leader and preacher in the first years of the Church.  We see something of his appearance and stature from Acts 14, 12, where the Gentile population of Lystra called him Zeus and Paul, Hermes (because he seemed to act as the spokesman for Barnabas).  Barnabas labored for decades for the Gospel alongside Paul and on his own, enduring persecutions and assaults from both Jews and Gentiles, converting very many souls and establishing thriving churches throughout the eastern Mediterranean world.  The last we hear of him in the Acts of the Apostles, he is sailing off to Cyprus with St. Mark.  St. Paul does mention him in 1 Corinthians 9, 5-6.  From him we learn that he and Barnabas worked with their hands to provide for themselves in their mission work so as not to be a burden on their flocks.  Paul also here implies that Barnabas was not married.

We ask St. Barnabas to pray for the missions today and for persecuted Catholics, that the missions might grow and persecution cease so Christ may be glorified.