learning something new

Here I've been a proest for four years and today I learned something that I had never known. It always bothered me that Nathanael is the name given to Batholomew in the Gospel of John for his feast day reading, which we heard at Mass today. I never understood why we celebrate St Bartholomew by calling him Nathanael in this gospel, but as I was preparing for my homily today, I found that this tradition goes back to the Fathers, and they,also recognizing the difference, reconciled it by looking at the two names. Nathanael is his first name and Bartholomew would be his father's name, (son of Tholomei) (similar to Bartimeaus, which means son of Timeaus and Simon Barjonah, which means son of John). It makes more sense when looked at this was. In any event, as we celebrate another feast of an apostle, it gives us an opportunity to remind ourselves that we are an apostolic church, and our bishops are the successors of these apostles. Let us pray for our bishops that they will have the courage to preach the truth of our Catholic faith in season and out of season. We must please God, not men.