During our Church’s liturgical year, we
honor and recognize the apostle’s feast days, for the ways they handed down the
faith to us and for their contributions in founding the Early Church. Today, we honor Barnabas. Barnabas worked closely with Paul, as we
heard in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. We don’t know a lot of details about Barnabas
and most of the other apostles, but we do know that they worked diligently to
spread the Good News of Jesus through out the world, encouraging those on their
journey and bring converts to the faith.
those who were following
In many ways, I feel like we are
following in the traditions of the early Church, as I go to the different
communities in northeast Mississippi, ministering to them and encouraging them
in the ways of the faith. I know Bishop
Kopacz feels the same way. He told me
that on the day the Acts of Apostles was talking about Paul going to Corinth to
bring the Gospel to the people there, Bishop Kopacz was going to Corinth in
Northeast Mississippi to install the lay minister into her post there as
well. In the past few weeks alone, I have
had baptism and weddings, masses and pastoral visits in Ripley, Saltillo,
Calhoun County, Oxford, Iuka, and Farmington. In a lot of ways, with the priest shortage
and with the changing face of the Church in the midst of the growing secularism
of our modern world, we are becoming a lot like the early days of
Christianity.
We give thanks for Barnabas and for all
the members of the Early Church who worked tirelessly in spreading the
faith. And we pray for all those many
people who are working to spread the faith today, those who are keeping the
spirit of the Early Church alive and vibrant.
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