Barnabas who appears in this morning’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles is one of the most attractive characters in the New Testament. Barnabas was a nick name; it meant ‘Son of Encouragement’. He had a reputation for encouraging people. That is very evident from that reading we have heard this morning. When something new was happening in the city of Antioch, when pagans were coming to believe in Jesus as well as Jews, Barnabas was sent down from Jerusalem to look at what was happening. He like what he saw and gave them all great encouragement, urging them all to remain faithful to the Lord. He immediately went off to Tarsus to look for Saul, or Paul, who had recently come to faith in Christ and Barnabas encouraged him to go to Antioch and support this new development there. Paul went on to become a leading member of the church in Antioch. Barnabas was what we would call today, an enabler. That is part of the calling of each one of us. We are called to encourage one another in the faith, to help one another to grow in our relationship with the Lord, to enable one another to be faithful. That ministry of mutual encouragement was very important in the early church and is just as important today. What are going to do today? • AE
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La caridad tiene muchas formas. Cada uno de nosotros puede hacer una cosa u otra. El evangelio no destruye la naturaleza humana sino que la plenifica. No cabe duda el gran contraste que podemos encontrar: Jesús el Buen Pastor que da la vida por los suyos, y la indignidad de otros pastores que no son como el Señor Jesús. El Resucitado es un Buen Pastor. Cuida, vigila, venda las heridas, sana el corazón, se arrodilla por el camino y pone sobre los hombros a la oveja huida cuando está perdida. Además, les da la vida eterna y ya nadie las arrebatará de su mano. Las realidades ordinarias de la existencia, esas que vemos todos los días con los ojos, nos ayudan a vivir en este mundo de una manera confortable, acrecientan nuestra humanidad. Las realidades últimas, el Señor Jesús, posibilitan posibilitan que vivamos de una manera saludable, curan nuestra mortalidad. Es el mensaje de Jesús: Dios es el que llama a las cosas que son para que sea. El que de la esterilidad del seno de Sara llamó a un pueblo numeroso a la existencia prometiéndole que de él saldría el Salvador. El que sacó de la muerte a Cristo. El que un día nos va a arrancar de la muerte para hacernos partícipes de su vida gloriosa. Todo es igual y todo es distinto. Todo es igual: nacemos, crecemos, morimos como los demás. Todo es distinto: un día resucitaremos. Nada menos • AE
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