Feast of Saint Barnabas, Apostle
June 11, 2022
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Acts 11:21b-26; 12:1-3
Barnabas was not one of the twelve apostles, but his role in the early Church was so significant that Church tradition calls him an apostle anyhow.
Barnabas was a Greek-speaking Jew from Cyprus who had come to Jerusalem. The members of the Jerusalem church were not enthusiastic about receiving Gentiles into the community of believers. Some believers in Antioch saw things differently however, and the church began to grow there among Gentiles.
The Jerusalem authorities sent Barnabas to look into the situation. He was impressed by what he saw there and undertook a structured ministry among the Gentiles in Antioch. He enlisted Saul–Paul–to help him, and the two of them soon constituted an important source of apostolic energy for Christianity among the Gentiles.
