St. Barnabas was not one of the twelve Apostles who were chosen by Jesus.
Yet in Acts 14:14, he, together with St. Paul were called apostles, as they were sent by the Church for a mission and to preach or deliver a message.
To be called an apostle was indeed a great privilege for St. Barnabas, considering the fact that he was one of the first converts to Christianity.
And indeed, he lived up to his calling as an apostle. He and St. Paul undertook missionary journeys together and defended Gentile converts against a faction which insisted on circumcision.
We also heard from the 1st reading that they also gained converts in Antioch, and it was there that the disciples were first called "Christians".
So St. Barnabas was a great figure of evangelization in the early Church.
The 1st reading described these simple but important qualities in him - for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. And that is what is needed for mission and evangelization.
In the gospel, Jesus tells us what is NOT needed for mission and evangelization - provide yourselves with no gold or silver, not even a few copper coins for the purse; no haversack, no spare tunic, no footwear or staff.
And we might remember what St. Peter told the crippled man in Acts 3:6 "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
We don't need silver or gold or all those accessories. We only need Jesus; without Him we can do nothing.
And when it comes to mission and evangelization, people are only expecting this from us - they expect to see Jesus in us and that we share the Good News of salvation with them.
May we be filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith as we proclaim Jesus to others.