Above are the details of two of the sixteen panels of our beautifully decorated Paschal Candle.
On the left, the stoning of Stephen with the approval of Saul.
On the right, his conversion on the way to persecute Christians.
Today’s First Reading presents to us a man who could easily pass us by but who is, in fact, very important, Barnabas. After his conversion, Saul goes back to Jerusalem, trying to join the disciples but they won’t believe him, believing rather his past.
When we meet someone, do we believe his/her past or do we believe in the initiative that God can do with that very same person?
Often, we give total and unique credit to what has happened in the past (especially our own past!). Often, we judge ourselves and others because of what we did, because of what they did.
We all need a Barnabas. Barnabas “took Saul with him” – as Joseph “took Mary with him” – believing that what was “conceived” in Saul was of the Holy Spirit. Barnabas believed more in the free initiative of God and in the power of the Holy Spirit than in the power of our past and track record of his grave sins.
Barnabas is a man of the Spirit and this makes him able to discern another man of the Spirit.
We all need a Barnabas, we all need someone who is not blind to our reality and history but who can ‘see’ the work of the Holy Spirit in us and is willing to “take us with him” so that the work of God may bring much, much fruit.
