542. June 11, St Barnabas, Apostle
Meditations no. 473 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
The Holy Spirit destined St Barnabas for a universal mission.
Among those who participated in the mission of the Apostles from the first hour is the saint whom we commemorate today: There was a Levite called Joseph, a Cypriot by birth, to whom the apostles gave the fresh name of Barnabas, which means, the man of encouragement. As soon as he embraced the faith in Jesus Christ, he gave himself with all his strength: He had an estate, which he sold, and brought the purchase money to lay it at the apostlesā feet.
Barnabasā generous response at the very dawn of his vocation enlarged his heart and made him more capable of understanding, forgiving and loving everyone. After his conversion, St Paul reached Jerusalem, where he tried to attach himself to the disciples; but they could not believe he was a true disciple, and all avoided his company. Whereupon Barnabas took him by the hand and brought him in to the apostles, telling them how on his journey, he had seen the Lord and had speech with him, and. how at Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. Thus, he made possible the boundless apostolate of Paul, who needed the approval of those who were the pillars of the Church.
Barnabas was not content with preaching about Christ in Palestine. The desire of carrying the name of Jesus far away consumed him. His hope and his thirst for souls made him dream about those gentile countries where Christ was yet unknown. He soon found the opportunity to fulfil his desires: But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned to the Lord. Barnabas immediately got ready to visit that city; he was sent there from Jerusalem by the Apostles. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large company was added to the Lord.
Then, together with St Paul, he preached in Cyprus and in Asia Minor, undergoing great persecutions. When the Jews hardened and refused to receive the Gospel message, Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, āIt was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying āI have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.āā
Barnabas spent his life for souls. He died in Cyprus, a martyr for the Faith he had preached; but his apostolate became universal: his utterance fills every land, his message reaches the ends of the world.
The calling of each person, within oneās own environment, to sanctity and apostolate is also universal.
Like Barnabas, each one of us has received a universal mission: by divine mandate we must go out to all the crossroads of the world. There we must announce to everyone that God seeks them out and awaits them at work, in their family life, with their joys and sorrows, and in the events of ordinary living.
A vocation brings with it the grace to carry out this task bravely. Confident in our Lord, we make his kingdom present everywhere, even in places where Christianity seems to have been uprooted. Our Father taught us that: The presence and witness of the children of God in his Opus Dei in the world attracts others; rather than be led astray themselves, they form their own environment, that of Christ. They do not let themselves be dominated by the other environment. Wherever we find ourselves, we try to influence the environment. We do this not to stand out or feel superior to others. Instead, we are moved by a deeply supernatural ambition.
St Barnabas gives us a good example of courage in front of a hostile environment. In Antioch of Pisidia, where the Church was growing thanks to the preaching of the Apostles, the Jews used influence with such women of fashion as worshipped the true God, and with the leading men in the city, setting on foot a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and driving them out of their territory; so they shook off the dust from their feet as they left them, and went on to Iconium. The disciples, meanwhile, were filled with rejoicing and with the Holy Spirit. The same fate befell them in Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, cities where they evangelised many in Jesusā name, in spite of the countless difficulties and persecutions.
Our Father wrote: I have never come to like that comparison used by some to describe the conduct of a Christian: that of good apples in a basketā¦ when a rotten piece of fruit is put in, the rest are spoiled. A soul who is close to our Lord and enkindled with apostolic desires, need not fear corruption. My children, we should not fear living among those who do not possess or who do not live the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
Using the proper precautions, we ought not to reject anyone. We have enough spiritual, ascetical and intellectual means so as not to let ourselves go to ruin. A child of God in the Work should not allow himself to be influenced by the environment. Rather, he should be the one who provides the environment for those around him; that is, our own environment, which is the environment of Jesus Christ Our Lord, who lived with sinners and dealt with them (Luke 15: 2).
Proselytistic zeal leads us to forget about ourselves.
Proselytism, my children, shows us how our spiritual life is going. When some priest or religious complains that they are not obtaining vocations, I think that there can only be one reason: they donāt live their own vocation well; they donāt love it.
If one of my children does not have this proselytistic zeal, it is because heās not well; heās dying, and his heart is not beating. Foster the desire to multiply yourselves a lot; people are asking for us throughout the whole world. We need young persons, who are well-prepared, to go and work in other countries.
The apostle ardently desires to perpetuate himself in the hearts and lives of others, to enkindle the light of Christ in the souls of those around them - the more the better. When Barnabas was working in Antioch, he saw the abundant harvest the Lord was preparing. He went on to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, brought him back to Antioch. For a whole year after this they were made welcome in the Church there, teaching a great multitude. And Antioch was the first place in which the disciples were called Christians.
The proselytistic drive of Paul and Barnabas prevented any symptom of loneliness, even in the midst of the greatest tribulations. The temptation of feeling isolated has no place in the heart of an apostle, since he knows he is a link in the chain, and that he will reach his goal. Besides, we should feel the company of God, who abides by grace in our souls. We should also feel the closest union with our brothers and sisters, and with the whole Church, thanks to the Communion of Saints. Look how marvellous our life is: a child of God in Opus Dei is never alone; he has a continuous conversation with God our Father. His filial heart never feels abandoned, because he is always doing proselytism.
Should we ever feel alone, it would mean that we have belittled our heart by thinking about ourselves, or that we have sought unworthy compensations, as if the love of God were not enough for us. If we were to be stingy as regards the generosity of our dedication, allowing comfort, laziness and human outlook to take hold, then we would immediately resent apostolate and we could feel interiorly alone.
We have a distinctive spiritual life that is proper to us, and in some ways unique to us. And the spiritual life of the members of the Work has to give each of us a particular way of looking at things, one characteristic of which is to seek actively the holiness of others. We do not love God if we think only about our own holiness. We have to think about others, about the holiness of our brothers and sisters and of all soulsā¦
We have no choice but to count on what we might call this psychological bias of thinking always about the others, having this particular point of view which is ours and ours alone.
The Most Blessed Virgin, who has always accompanied the Church along her earthly pilgrimage, is Queen of the Apostles. She will help us to bring our environment to every corner of the earth, and generously perpetuate ourselves in the hearts and lives of many.