24 August 2024, Feast of Saint Bartholomew
Homily
There were several concentric circles of followers around Jesus. First there was the crowd, to whom Jesus addressed most of his teaching. Then there was a group of disciples, men and women, who followed him on his journeys through Galilee and Judea. Among them were the Twelve, whom he had chosen in a special way and who were to be the foundations of his Church. Each of these Twelve was chosen explicitly, each by name. Of some of them we know a fair amount about their lives, their apostolic activity and their martyrdom. Of others we know very little. Of Bartholomew (Bar Tolomeos, i.e. the son of Tolomeus), whom we celebrate today, we know very little. According to tradition, however, Bartholomew is the same person as the Nathanael mentioned in the Gospel we have just heard.
This Gospel, which is by John, tells us in vivid terms of the call of the first disciples in the days following the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. In Nathanael, we see a lively and sincere person, who moves easily from slightly ironic scepticism ("from Nazareth what good can come"?) to an act of ardent faith: "Master, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel!"
Note above all Jesus' praise of Nathanael: "Here is a true Israelite in whom there is no guile (or falsehood)". Could Jesus say the same thing about each one of us? In what would artifice (or falsity) consist for us? -- Being true consists in living according to the promises we made on the day of our baptism; according to the commitments we made on the day of our monastic profession; or according to the marriage commitments of married people. Every time we are unfaithful -- or simply less faithful -- to our promises, to our commitments, we are "false".
Let us ask the Lord -- through the intercession of Saint Bartholomew -- for the grace of a constant conversion of heart, so that when we finally meet the Lord we can hear him say of us: "Here is a true Christian, a true nun, a true monk, in whom there is no artifice!"
Armand Veilleux