Aug 24 – Feast of St. Bartholomew, apostle
Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles. He was probably a close friend of St. Philip, as his name is always mentioned in the gospels in connection with Philip, and it was Philip who brought Bartholomew to Jesus. He may have written a gospel, now lost, as it is mentioned in other writings of the time.
Someone preached in Asia Minor, Ethiopia, India, and Armenia and left behind assorted writings. Local tradition says it was Bartholomew.
- Patron Saint Index
Apo 21:9-14
Jn 1:45-51
“…you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.”
Some fun facts about the Book of Apocalypse. Written in ancient Greek, ‘apokalypsis’ means unveiling or revelation. Diverse faiths have accepted or referenced this book in their doctrines. These include Catholic, Protestants, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons and even Muslims. Second century church leaders unambiguously acknowledge the Apostle John as the author. He was inspired by God with visions to write the book. However, modern day scholars (especially American ‘bible experts’) have sought to discredit this book and its author.
The book’s apocalyptic, extravagant imagery and numerology have fascinated readers and inspired many end of world ‘revelations’. The Catholic doctrine on this book is rather more uncontroversial.
This book was circulated during the period of intense persecution of Christians in many parts of the Roman empire. It was meant to comfort the nascent community that their suffering would end in eternal reward and the enemies (i.e., Rome) would be defeated. More importantly, this book is the basis for many Catholic doctrines like intercession of saints, universal Queenship of Mary, the Catholic Mass and Communion. An excellent book to read on this is Scott Hahn’s ‘The Lamb’s Supper’.
Today’s first reading paints a vivid image of the holy city of Jerusalem coming down from heaven and radiating the glory of God. It is like a rare jewel with twelve gates, named after the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Jesus). I read further until verse 22, which states there is no physical temple in this Jerusalem, as the temple is the Lord God Almighty and its Lamb. Researching through several Catholic studies, I learnt that this whole chapter highlights the eternal presence and glory of God after the Lamb’s sacrifice (i.e., Jesus Passion, death and Resurrection). This was meant to console the Christians, who were then experiencing torture and death, that Jesus is with them.
Turning to the gospel reading, it tells of Jesus praising Nathanael as a man without deceit as he saw him under a fig tree. Nathanael then proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God, the King of Israel. So what’s the big deal about sitting beneath a fig tree? The Bible Adventure taught that fig trees were significant as the place where Jews contemplated or learned about God. Nathanael was indeed searching for the Messiah, the Son of God and he found him in Jesus. Such sincere faith meant more divine revelations for him.
In contrast to sitting beneath a fig tree, many American divinity colleges are the place where Christian students’ faith go to die. Today, liberal professors and ‘experts’ have promulgated ‘theories’ to undermine/contradict the truth of the Bible/Christianity. Examples include naming a John of Patmos as the author of Book of Apocalypse. Another is that the four gospels were written by unknown authors and used the names of the 4 evangelists to make it look authentic. The list goes on…
Brothers and sisters, Christianity has been under attack since Christ told his apostles to proclaim the word to the world. As Catholics, we should remain vigilant and safeguard the truth of our faith. Fortunately, Catholic media resources are readily available to help us. Sitting comfortable in our rooms, we must study and improve our knowledge about the bible, Jesus and our faith. There’s no need to be under the fig tree now!
(Today’s OXYGEN by Andrew Sia)
Prayer: Lord, help us to pray so that we can understand your word daily as we read it.
Thanksgiving: Thanks be to God, for giving abundant resources to help us learn about You.
OXYGEN 
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