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A team of 200 priests comment on daily Gospel
Liturgical day: August 24th: Bartholomew, apostle
Gospel text (Jn 1,45-51): (…) When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, he said of him, «Here comes an Israelite, a true one; there is nothing false in him». Nathanael asked him, «How do you know me?». And Jesus said to him, «Before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree and I saw you». Nathanael answered, «Master, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!» (…).
St. Bartholomew, apostle
EDITORIAL TEAM
evangeli.net
(based on texts by Benedict XVI)
(Città del Vaticano, Vatican)
Today, we contemplate Nathanael’s avowal, traditionally identified with the Apostle Bartholomew. His confession of faith stands out: "Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel". This acknowledgment has the function to open the terrain to the fourth Gospel, because a first and important step is taken on the path of adherence to Christ.
Bartholomew recognizes Jesus both by His special relationship with God the Father, of whom He is the only begotten Son, as well as by His relationship with the people of Israel, of whom He is called King, an attribution proper of the awaited Messiah. These two elements are essential since If we only proclaim only the heavenly dimension of Jesus we run the risk of making Him an ethereal and evanescent being while If we would only recognize His concrete role in history, we run the risk of neglecting His divine dimension, which is His proper description.
—St. Bartholomew, please mediate so that —by emulating your discreet passing through life— I may know how to hold on to God and bear witness to Him without performing astonishing works: Jesus is the extraordinary one!