An authentic and genuine life grows like a sturdy tree. And like a tree, it grows slowly. Every time you make a different and better decision, it grows a little…….

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”  - Frederick Douglass: (1818 – 1895: was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman.)

Gospel Text: (JN 1:45-51)

Philip found Nathanael and told him,

"We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law,

and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth."

But Nathanael said to him,

"Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

Philip said to him, "Come and see."

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,

"Here is a true child of Israel.

There is no duplicity in him."

Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?"

Jesus answered and said to him,

"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."

Nathanael answered him,

"Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

Jesus answered and said to him,

"Do you believe

because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?

You will see greater things than this."

And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,

you will see heaven opened and the angels of God

ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Our Lord said of Nathanael that he is a true Israelite in whom there is no duplicity.

No duplicity means that as soon as a person recognizes the truth, he / she is going to reject everything contrary and embrace the truth in its fullness. There is no falsehood. There is no deceit. There is no selfishness.

Nathanael was a man of virtue and he would give his life for the Lord – in a most grueling manner, actually. Saint Bartholomew (i.e.  Nathanael)  was flayed; he was skinned alive. That is how they killed him. So we see that once he understood Who Jesus was his entire life was changed and he dedicated himself one hundred percent to the service of God.