Homily for Memorial of St. Barnabas

Homily for the Memorial of St. Barnabas

June 11, 2026
Acts 11: 21-26; 13: 1-3
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

St. Barnabas healing the sick
(Paolo Vernonese)

“The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’” (Acts 13: 2).

Jesus taught that no disciple is greater than his teacher, but when fully trained will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40).  St. Paul probably is an exception to that rule.  Barnabas, given name Joseph (Acts 4:36), nicknamed “son of encouragement,” proved to be a good patron and mentor for Paul, but by the end of their missionary journey thru Cyprus and part of Asia Minor, Paul had become the leader.

And not long after, they broke up.  Acts tells us “their disagreement was sharp” (15:39, over whether Barnabas’s cousin John Mark should come on their proposed 2d mission.  When they split, Paul returned to Asia Minor, accompanied by Silas, and Barnabas and Mark went to Cyprus.  That’s the last we hear of Barnabas, According to tradition, he was martyred on Cyprus.  Tertullian suggested that he authored the Letter to the Hebrews, and Pope Benedict commented that, being a Levite (4:36), “Barnabas may have been interested in the topic of the priesthood; and the Letter to the Hebrews interprets Jesus’ priesthood for us in an extraordinary way.”[1]

The Holy Father found it “very comforting” that “there are also disputes, disagreements, and controversies among saints … because we see that the saints have not ‘fallen from Heaven.’  They are people like us, who also have complicated problems.”

Benedict goes on:  “Holiness does not consist in never having erred or sinned.  Holiness increases the capacity for conversion, for repentance, for willingness to start again, and, especially, for reconciliation and forgiveness.”[2]

That reconciliation seems to have happened.  At the end of Paul’s life, thrice he refers to Mark as one of his fellow workers (Col 4:10; 2 Tim 4:11; Phlm 24), and both Colossians (4:10) and 1 Corinthians (9:6) speak mildly of Barnabas.

One hagiographer sums up:  “If it needed the intense fire of a Paul to set the Mediterranean world alight, it needed the quiet encouragement of a Barnabas to make that fire the light that would enlighten the world.”[3]  The Holy Spirit was at work in both of them.

---

[1] Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church (SF: Ignatius, 2007), pp. 141-142.

[2] Ibid., p. 141.

[3] The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, ed. John Couson (NY: Guild Press, 1958), p. 99.