Hearth & Altar

When Barnabas arrived in Antioch and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced. He didn't arrive with a program. He arrived with eyes that could recognize grace when it was present in unexpected people, and a heart that responded to it with joy. Then he encouraged them all to remain faithful in firmness of heart - because he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.

That sentence is Barnabas's epitaph: a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. Not the most prominent apostle, not the theological heavyweight, not the one with the dramatic conversion. The good man who could see grace and rejoice at it, who went to find Saul when Saul needed an advocate, who fasted and prayed and was sent when the Spirit said so.

Freely you received, freely give. The apostolic mission is not a transaction. The laborer deserves his keep, and that's the extent of what is owed - not wealth, not security, not leverage. Go, proclaim, receive hospitality, give peace. The mission is as simple as that, stripped of the accumulation that would make it something else.

• For our family, that we would have eyes like Barnabas - able to see the grace of God in unexpected places and respond with joy, we pray to the Lord.
• For those who need an encourager to remain faithful in firmness of heart, that a Barnabas would arrive for them, we pray to the Lord.
• For those sent on mission, that freely received freely given would be their posture - no accumulation, no leverage, just the peace freely offered, we pray to the Lord.
• In this Sacred Heart month, for the heart that sends his workers into the harvest, we pray to the Lord.

He saw the grace of God and rejoiced. This week, look for the grace of God in one unexpected place or person. Name it when you see it. The rejoicing in another person's grace is Barnabas's distinctive gift - and it is the gift that opens the community to more.

Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and bring him to Antioch. He was the one who believed in Saul when others were afraid of him, and the one who went to find him when the Spirit needed him. Be the parent who believes in your children's gifts before anyone else does, and who goes to find them when the mission needs what they carry.