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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle, 24 August 2022 Revelation 21:9-14 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> John 1:45-51
Everywhere we find layers of everything: layers of clothing, layers of skin, layers of meaning; thank you, dear God our Father in inviting me today as we celebrate the feast of St. Bartholomew to examine the different "layers" of my faith and knowledge of you in Jesus Christ.
First is the layer of my self-knowledge: how true am I with myself? How free am I in being myself, in expressing freely my thoughts and feelings?
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.”
John 1:45-47
Dear Jesus, grant me that kind of sincerity and honesty of Nathanael/St. Bartholomew: you were not disgusted with his words for they were very true; most of all, you even praised him for being a true Israelite without any guile! What a revelation of the true layer of St. Bartholomew bared for everyone to see unlike us in many occasions when we hide our identity in many layers often not true, so unreal of who we are; teach us to come and see you in your deepest layer, Jesus, so we may be at home too with who we really are.
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
John 1:48-49
Grant me also the grace, Lord Jesus like Nathanael/ St. Bartholomew to perceive deeply your true identity as "Son of God" and "king of Israel"; two different layers of your person that can only be perceived by a deep faith, to see you who you really are, the Son of God, and also the fulfillment of our aspirations here in this life, in this world as our Christ the King!
How interesting, O God that St. Bartholomew died a martyr after being skinned alive and crucified upside down like St. Peter; it must have been his most glorious achievement that after being skinned alive, his persecutors must have seen and realized too his faith was not that skin-deep after all, that layers upon layers of skin, they have found only you, Jesus deeply ingrained in his very person. Amen.
