We know very little about many of the Apostles, their background, their personalities, their lives after Pentecost. Yet we can learn what kind of a spiritual person each must have been. We can discover John or Paul to some degree through their writings. But we must look elsewhere for a revelation of the spiritual and apostolic qualities which must have characterized the Apostles who left no writings. Wherever a faithful and reverential Israelite is portrayed in the Bible, there we can discover something of the unknown Apostles. Where we may be ignorant, the word of God is inspiring.

Thus the verses of Psalm 145 chosen for today's celebration can serve as a pen-picture of any Apostle, of Bartholomew. Chosen by Jesus, each Apostle became His friend, someone who, guided by the Holy Spirit, understood the mystery of Jesus and could discourse about the glory of the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus. Each Apostle was sent on a mission which, in the words of the Psalm, we may sum up as "making known to men your might and the glorious splendour of your kingdom". In prayer and in proclamation, Bartholomew and the other Apostles would have incessantly called upon God in truth.