Just as the Gospels did not record every moment of Jesus' public, so the Acts of the Apostles did not, indeed could not, record every detail of the life of the early Church. Guided by the Holy Spirit and by the experience of evangelization, the Evangelists, and Luke also in his Acts, chose to present to us those persons and events which they considered the best vehicles for conveying the revelation of the Gospel.

In Acts 4, Luke records in very brief fashion, how a Levite called Joseph sold a piece of land and gave the money to the Apostles. Though Luke does not record his conversion to Jesus, his sale of the land was a further step in his commitment to Jesus and his Church, so that the Apostles named him Barnabas, 'son of encouragement' or of consolation.

Today we reflect on Barnabas, not just as an early Christian, but more importantly as an Apostle and as the one who brought Paul from Tarsus into the mainstream of the life of the Church.