THE DIVINE REVELATION
There is an end which everybody pursues. For St. Augustine this end is happiness. For Christians, this happiness has an abode. And this abode of happiness, the ultimate happiness is heaven.
This abode of happiness is what the First Reading from the Revelation is giving us a clear description. This abode of happiness is the heavenly Jerusalem which radiates the glory of God and which glitters like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond.
Then, the walls of this abode of happiness had twelve gates which signifies the twelve tribes of Israel. Yet, the city wall stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
And today, we celebrate the feast of St. Bartholomew, one of the apostles of the Lamb who is one of the stones that bore the walls of this great abode of happiness.
CAN ANYTHING GOOD COME OUT OF NAZARETH?
Nathaniel having been informed by Philip that they have seen Jesus and that He is the son of Joseph from Nazareth asked: can anything good come out of Nazareth? This question is very important since it directs us to knowing some of the attributes of God. Since for man Nazareth is the least excepted town from which the Messiah would come from yet He did come from there it projects to us that our God can do what is impossible to man.
THE CHRISTIAN SOUL AND THIS READINGS
ARE YOU A FRIEND OF GOD?
Are you a friend of God? Do you know what it means to be a friend of God? Who are the true friends of God? All these questions every Christian soul ought to ask himself /herself. A true picture of who ought to be called a friend of God was given in response of the Responsorial Psalms thus: Your friends, Oh Lord, make known the glorious splendour of your reign. This means that for you to be a friend of God, you take up the responsibility of spreading the good news of the Gospel. This was what made St. Bartholomew did that purchased for him the abode of happiness. He did not only do it for some time, rather he gave his who lifetime for it, even to the point of death.
Oh Christian Soul, how have you made known the glorious splendour of God’s reign? Have you done it by your deeds or by your words? How have you done it at home and in the public places? Have you done it in your place of work?
CAN ANYTHING GOOD COME FROM YOU?
Many people around you on looking at you from different perspectives would ask; can anything good come out you? But, do you think the same about yourself? Know it that it is God to whom nothing is impossible that do things of this kind.
In the time of Sarah, some of her neighbour might ask the same question: can a child come out from Sarah again? Yet, our God did it to show us that he makes those things which men see as impossibilities very possible.
You were created in Goodness, and you were created by He who is the Utimate Good and the source of all goodness. And everything about you is good and everything good can come out from you.
PRAYER
Oh Lord! May we not only recognise that we are created in goodness and that everything good can come out of us, but also let us your true friends now and forever make known the glorious splendour of your reign to the ends of the earth. Amen.
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