Reading: Acts.11:21-26.13:1-3; Ps. 98; Matt.10:7-13

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

BE A SOURCE OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO OTHERS JUST LIKE ST. BARNABAS

Have you ever been in a difficult and ugly situation where you felt like giving up or quitting and pulling out of a noble project, career or goal in life, and then you heard someone telling you not to give up, don’t pull out, keeping pushing, keeping going for it will soon be over? Such words and behaviour give one great confidence and renewed energy to stagger towards achieving the project or career.

This is because there is great strength and renewed energy in us whenever we know that someone believes in us. It feels right and changes our disposition towards difficult and ugly situations. This act of giving someone support, confidence, hope and persuasion to do or to continue doing something is known as an act of encouragement, which is a branch of the virtue of courage, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit brings encouragement where it is needed by giving this gift to someone near a person whomever he is pleased to encourage. Thus the act of encouragement has a great impact on human relationships. For when we are inspired by the Holy Spirit to encourage people, we become the instrument through which God is letting them know that He has seen what they have done, and by extension, believe what they will be able to do in the future; and that improves their belief in themselves and their potential towards achieving their goals.

This great attitude and gift of the Holy Spirit is what St. Barnabas whose memorial we celebrate today is known for among his fellow Apostles. Barnabas is one of the most important figures in the history of the early Church, his real name was Joseph, but the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement.” This is a pure summary of his entire personality, for he was someone who encouraged others, believed in them and helped them to respond to God with enthusiasm, because of his helpful and optimistic nature.

Barnabas sold a field he owned and laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet, an obvious sign of his total commitment to Christ and total trust in the apostles. Such a great gesture, common among the first disciples, would have certainly inspired the other members of the Church to courageously do the same. But we see his encouragement more especially in his interaction with St. Paul in our first reading today where the Holy Spirit speaks to the young Church in Antioch, and there the disciples were first called Christians. And the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Here the Holy Spirit inspired them to go on the first great missionary journey in the Church. In this mission, Barnabas was inspired by the gift of Courage and he was able to encourage Paul and also the entire Church to recognize Paul’s gifts and talents. For without Barnabas’ intervention, Paul would have probably remained silenced in Tarsus by other disciples. But because of Barnabas’ courageous and encouraging interventions, Paul was able to become the greatest missionary in the history of the Church. It was Barnabas who saw the great potential in Paul and chose to make him his collaborator, vouching for him before the Apostles who did not trust him because of his past life of persecuting Christians.

Dear friends, are you passing through difficult and ugly situations because of your past mistakes? Are you feeling like giving up the noble project and goal you have begun because of some challenges?  Does it seem as if your great potential, dreams and talents are being neglected? Please don’t give up, for today St. Barnabas “the son of encouragement” comes to us as he did to Paul and other disciples to encourage us and to get involved in our struggles. He also wants us to be sons and daughters of encouragement to others just like him.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we struggle daily towards our mission and goal in life, may we be encouraged by the virtues of St. Barnabas so as to be another Barnabas to people we encounter in our journey of Life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a blessed day.