Feast of Saint Bartholomew

God knows your every short-coming, flaw and sin, but he also sees your radiant preciousness.

Good News Reflection for:

Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
August 24, 2024

Today’s Prayer:

Lord, may our prejudices and fears not prevent us from advancing decisively toward the goal You have shown us. Amen.

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Today’s Readings:

Revelations 21:9b-14
Ps 145:10-13, 17-18
John 1:45-51
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082424.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-august-24-2024

Don’t underestimate your value

You are the bride of Christ, because you have wedded yourself to his love and have committed your life to him. Today’s first reading is what God showed John in a vision about you. You gleam with the splendor of God. Your radiance is like that of a precious stone. This is how God sees you!

Why is it so hard for us to see ourselves this way? Most people don’t have a problem with pride, i.e., the prideful self-glorifying belief that “I am wonderful!” Most of us have a problem with low self-esteem, which triggers prideful, self-centered attempts to seem better than we are. And we don’t need to!

Sure, God knows our every short-coming and flaw and sin, but he also sees our radiant preciousness. If we could see that too, we wouldn’t be afraid to face our flaws. But instead of listening to God tell us who we are, we believe the negative, short-sighted, limited perceptions that others have held about us. Intellectually, we may have disagreed with their assessments, but deep inside, the child we once were still blindly seeks their approval.

If you were to make two lists, one naming your faults and the other naming your good points, the fault category would be longer, wouldn’t it? As a follower of Christ, it should be the opposite. You have Christ’s Spirit within you! Remember that especially on the Feast of Saint Bartholomew.

On the other hand, if listing your good points is far easier than naming your faults, do you see God as the author of your goodness? Do you recognize your calling to use these blessings for the sake of his kingdom?

How much time have you spent examining what is good in you? Let God teach you about how much he values you and how useful you are for his kingdom.

Like Nathanael (also called Bartholomew) said to Jesus in our Gospel reading today, “How do you know me?” God knows us exactly and intimately. We don’t. He sees everything that’s good in us, not just our tendency to sin. He knows the good we’re capable of doing if only we’d trust in our own goodness and use it for God’s glory — because this goodness comes directly from his Holy Spirit.

How much do we radiate the splendor of God on this Feast of Saint Bartholomew?

Low self-esteem says that we are far from being who we’re supposed to be; it also says that we will never get there. Narcissism says we’re already there. Either way, God esteems us highly and longs to use our goodness to continue Christ’s mission in the world around us.

In fact, because we believe in the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus, God esteems us so highly that he calls us saints! This is why both the Old and New Testaments refer to the people of God as saints. Saints who haven’t died yet are people who are headed toward heaven and, as followers of Christ, are doing the work of Christ.

In our ordinary, everyday sainthood, we gleam with his splendor!

Thank you for reflecting with us on this Feast of Saint Bartholomew!

See more on this topic in our WordByte, “What does it mean to be an Apostle today?” @ wordbytes.org/evangelization-ministry/apostle-today/

© 2024 by Terry A. Modica

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