Monday, August 24, 2026
Saint Bartholomew, apostle - Feast
John 1:45-51
Listen to the whole reading — MP3
First reading
Revelation 21:9-14
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb’s bride.” He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal; having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
Responsorial psalm
Psalms 145:10-11,12-13,17-18
All your works will give thanks to you, the Lord. Your saints will extol you. They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk about your power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, the glory of the majesty of his kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words, and loving in all his deeds. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works. The Lord is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Gospel
John 1:45-51
Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!” He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Lectio
Nathanael's whole conversion turns on a single sentence: "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." We are not told what Nathanael was doing beneath that tree. Praying, perhaps. Wrestling with something. Nursing a private disappointment. Whatever it was, it was hidden — the kind of moment no one witnesses, the version of ourselves we assume goes unseen. And Jesus names it. Not to expose him, but to tell him: I have known you all along, in the place you thought was yours alone. That is what breaks Nathanael open. Not an argument, but the experience of being seen through and loved anyway.
There is a beautiful irony here. This is the same man who had just sneered, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" — a skeptic, a man of edges and defenses. Jesus calls him "an Israelite in whom there is no deceit." The Lord sees past the cynicism to the honest heart underneath it. And then the first reading gives us where all this is going: the holy city with its twelve foundations bearing the names of the apostles. Bartholomew, this doubter under the fig tree, becomes a foundation stone of the eternal Jerusalem. The man who almost dismissed Christ from a distance ends up built into the very wall of heaven.
This is the shape of grace. It finds us in our hidden places, meets our defenses without being scandalized by them, and then makes something eternal out of what we were sure was too small or too flawed to matter.
Where is your "fig tree" right now — the hidden place, prayer or worry or struggle, that you assume no one sees, and how would it change things to believe Christ is already there with you?
What is the "can anything good come from Nazareth?" cynicism you carry — about a person, a place, or your own capacity for holiness — that Jesus might be gently asking you to set down today?
Saint of the day
St. Bartholomew, Apostle - Feast
Ora reads this aloud, every morning, free. Ora