As with most of the Apostles, there are not a lot of details as to what they did after
the Lord's ascension into heaven, except for one thing, we know that they went and began
to convert the whole world. And today, we celebrate the feast of one of those extraordinary
members of God's apostolic college, that is, one of the founders of that college,
St. Bartholomew himself, for he was one of the original called by the Lord to be the foundation
upon which he would build his church. And so, he would go forth into the pagan worlds
and preach the gospel. He was known to preach it in simplicity and in truth, not compromising
the word of the Lord in even the slightest manner. And indeed, there are accounts of the many
miracles that he wrought. St. John Chrysostom tells us that in the pagan world, there were
oracles. And indeed, St. John Chrysostom himself explains,
because they were still extant in his days, that demons would speak either through humans who were
in either the cave or the temple where the oracle was, or through the inanimate objects that those
pagan people would worship, that devils would literally be speaking and guiding those cultures.
And so, St. Bartholomew went into this world and silenced those demons. It is particularly known
that he silenced the cults.
And so, we ask St. Bartholomew to intercede for us this day, so that he too may drive the demons from our land,
and that all the oracles, that is, all those who are teaching our society and our world the falsities that it seems to be
enwrapped in, that all those demons will remain silent and that the truth again will rise.
St. Bartholomew would pay the ultimate price for his witness to the truth, but he would always and everywhere teach that truth of the Lord
without guile and always in simplicity, asking the people that they be baptized and convert,
to the true God, the true God whom he had come into their lands to preach them about.
And he would ultimately suffer being flayed alive for the teaching of this truth.
But he would endure that agonizing martyrdom because he knew the one he had loved, and he knew how it was that he was,
how he was to return to him, that he was to give himself entirely to the Lord and to the Lord's teachings.
And so, after St. Bartholomew had completed,
the mission that the Lord had entrusted to him in this life, he departed,
and now he is in heaven guiding all of his successors,
praying constantly for them that they too become good shepherds like St. Bartholomew and all the apostles,
save that apostate apostle Judas who departed from the Lord and departed from his company
and ultimately paid the greatest price that can be paid by a human soul.
And so,
St. Bartholomew,
and all the apostles are ones we should constantly ask to intercede for us,
particularly asking them to pray for their successors,
the bishops throughout the church,
so that they too remain faithful,
preaching the gospel in its simplicity always and everywhere,
teaching that simple truth uncompromisingly,
even at the cost of their lives.
And so, let us ask this great apostle to intercede for us in our times
so that, again, the oracles of Satan,
that is, all of those places in which falsity is being perpetrated upon humanity,
in which falsity is being,
by which we are being told falsity is truth and it alone can redeem us and save us,
let us pray that St. Bartholomew will intercede
so that he may acquire for us the graces to silence those oracles,
and most especially,
that those who are speaking,
the falsity in the modern world may be converted,
converted to that truth that St. Bartholomew brought to the pagan worlds,
that truth that would silence the very demons who were leading the people astray,
and then that once that truth was embraced,
Christ would be embraced,
and his kingship would be established over those nations and over those lands,
so that very shortly after the establishment of the church,
within a thousand years,
it can be said that the beginnings of Christendom were truly taken root,
and Christendom was to be the lot of the medieval society,
that is, they were a people who always and everywhere saw first and foremost
that their mission was to worship God,
to remain faithful to him,
and so let us strive that we too, again, grasp this truth,
that Christ has come to reign over us as our king,
to teach us always the truth,
and most especially to be here for us until the end of time,
in his real presence in the blessed sacrament,
so that acquiring from this good king all the benefits he wishes to bestow on our souls,
we too may persevere like St. Bartholomew to the end,
and if it were to cost us our life in this world like him,
we must truly believe it does not matter,
for we will take it up in the world to come,
where with all the angels and all the apostles,
we will praise him for all eternity together.
Amen.