Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle

Today's Mass Readings

I recently heard an interview in which the two people commiserated about anxiety during airplane travel. They reckoned that even though they were not particularly afraid of flying, rather it was a situation in which one feels most alone among a group of strangers. Much about modern life is alienating. Both the independence that technology and convenience has provided as well as the illusion of connection via social media, has contributed to isolation.

The Church, however, is the Body of Christ that unites us through the work of the Holy Spirit. The benefits and duties we owe to each other are based upon a spiritual bond present when we are not there. Yet, we are called not just to agape, to self-sacrificial service, but also philos, friendship.

St. Barnabas was a co-apostle with St. Paul. They were friends to the point of being brothers. They even had a bit of separation due to tensions that siblings can have. Still, they reconciled and continued to support one another. And like many friends, their relationship was based not just on facing toward one another, but also facing in the same direction in a work. For them it was evangelical mission. The most alienating thing in the Church is to believe that we do not share a common mission for building up the Body of Christ. Friendship plus meaning leads to flourishing in Jesus Christ.

Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB