Daily Reflection Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle

Do you remember that advice from management consultants and personal coaches so popular in the 1980's? -- "You're not working unless you are networking." Those consultants could have well used our gospel story today as a classic case in point. Jesus' call of the first disciples has started with the witness of John the Baptist, then to brothers Andrew and Peter, to Philip, and now, our focus today, Philip's hometown friend Nathaniel. (Not to be confused... this is the Feast Day of Saint Bartholomew. In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it is Philip who is paired with Bartholomew -- 'son of Tholomaus' -- but in John's Gospel he is called by his own proper name Nathaniel, hence the choice of today's Gospel passage. Any questions?) 

And what a stellar networking choice. This encounter is so rich with historical and theological references and the spiritual take-aways for our own life of discipleship. Some brief insights from Biblical commentaries that I found most helpful in probing: Nathaniel, 'under the fig tree' -- a student without guile well versed in scripture, the law, and the prophets; affirmed by Jesus as a true Israelite, one who has yearned to see God's face; the final dialogue an allusion to Jacob's ladder, with angels ascending and descending Bethel, where God is. Jesus says, "God is present and active in me." Jesus is Bethel in the flesh. When he sees his face, Nathaniel has indeed found the God whom he is seeking. Wow!

We hear very little more about Nathaniel as the Gospel stories unfold. He was one of those to whom Jesus appeared on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias after the resurrection. Tradition tells of his travels to India and Armenia, where he was martyred. He is venerated not only by Catholics but by Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran Christians as well -- an ecumenical saint. No matter the biographical details, we know that Nathaniel, like all of the Apostles, did go on to see 'greater things than this.' Eye witnesses to Christ's life, death, and resurrection, their bold testimony is the taproot of our own deposit of faith. 

What a consoling reminder when we read Jesus' words to Nathaniel: "When you were under the fig tree, I saw you." God is searching for us even before we are actively seeking Him -- a perpetual invitation to know Love itself. How might we recognize the packaging of that same invitation today? Could it come to someone in the form of our own kindness, mercy, listening, still presence? We're not working unless we're networking....

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Well worth a Google search is Simone Weil, a French philosopher and mystic who died eighty years ago today at the age of thirty-four. Her short life of 'rarified integrity' was marked by many instances of her impulse to sacrifice and share in the suffering of others. Robert Ellsberg in his book All Saints claims her as one of the most compelling religious figures of the Twentieth Century.