Today the Church celebrates the feast of an apostle, Saint Bartholomew. Since we say in our creeds that we have an “apostolic” faith, that is one that was given us by the apostles since the only memory Jesus left us was his effect in the lives of his followers. Being an apostle was a big deal. Witness the testimony of the heavenly Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation. The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. You would think, therefore that knowing who the apostle were would be important but, for most of them, we really only know their names. And, as today’s feast demonstrates, even that is iffy. In the lists of the twelve in the gospels Philip is always associated with Bartholomew. However, in St. John’s gospel he is associated with Nathaniel. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” This is a good reminder to us that like the twelve we are called to be apostles, to bring good news into the world. But being an apostle does not flow from our uniqueness but from God’s gift.
