Daily Meditation - Wednesday 11June 2008 - RISING ABOVE PERSONAL DISLIKES AND PREJUDICES & WELCOMING THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

[BarbaraTherese]

Memorial
St. Barnabas - Apostle
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Mass Readings and Meditation

Readings

Meditation
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

St. Barnabas Acts 11:21-26; 13:1-3

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When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord. (Acts 11:23)

• For the first few years of its existence, the church in Jerusalem consisted almost solely of Jews or Jewish converts who believed in Jesus.
• But in Antioch, there were many gentile converts as well.
• As a result, the early church was trying to negotiate the uncharted waters of incorporating non-Jews into the life of what was originally a Jewish Christianity.

So the elders in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to find out how things were going and to report back.

• What did Barnabas do?
• He went and saw the work of the Holy Spirit there.
• He was humble enough to let the Lord open his eyes to something that probably would have been scandalous to him before his conversion
• —Jews and Gentiles praying together and even sharing table fellowship.
  After seeing, Barnabas then rejoiced.
• He didn’t stop at a grudging acceptance that God might be doing something he didn’t expect.
• He was actually happy to see it!
• He enjoyed the way that the Holy Spirit was surprising him!
• Finally, after seeing and rejoicing,
• Barnabas encouraged the new believers to stay faithful to the Lord and the gospel.
• And as a result, the church grew in strength and number!
  What about us?
• When someone we don’t much like turns to God or takes a role in serving the church,
• *** can we see it as the work of the Holy Spirit instead of doubting their motives?***
• How about when a fellow parishioner goes to a Protestant healing service and is cured?
• Will we rejoice in the Spirit’s work,
• even if it wasn’t at our church?
• Or will we try to discount it?
  Barnabas learned that God is so much bigger than his ideas—and it made him into a valuable servant of the Lord.
• Let’s follow his lead and ask the Holy Spirit to help us see his work all around us.
  *** It may not be exactly what we expect or are comfortable with.*** But when we see the hand of God
• and rejoice in it
• and encourage others to do the same,
• we are taking great steps of healing and unity with all who are called by Christ’s name.
  “Open my eyes, Holy Spirit! You are so active in our world—help me to embrace your work.”

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[bwhite06517]

Be Like Barnabas

In today’s first reading in Acts chapter 11, we have this description of Barnabas:

When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.

The name Barnabas seems to be associated with the word “Encourager”. Are we ‘encouragers’? Do we build people up? Do we pat people on the back and say “good job”? Do people get happier when we come into a room (or when we leave the room)?

A popular shoe company in the United States had a advertising campaign to “Be Like Mike” (Michael Jordan, famous American basketball player). Could we go one better and “Be Like Barnabas”?

Heavenly Father, Help us to be encouragers; help us to remain faithful to You with firmness of heart and with the fullness of the Holy Spirit and faith!!! Help us to “Be Like Barnabas”!!! Amen