The purpose of spirituality is to connect us to our true essence often referred to as the soul. The Mystics challenge us not to believe in second hand spiritual truth. but to open up and allow the wisdom of our own soul to spill into your consciousness.
The Galilean disciples’ unfamiliarity with Judas would have aided and abetted him in his deception. Having already taken money to betray Christ, Judas came back, blended into the group and pretended nothing unusual had happened.
Little is known about these 3 apostles but their testimony to the Gospel was as powerful and as far reaching as that of the better known and more outspoken disciples.
He may have had his doubts about Jesus’ resurrection, as did the other 11, but St. Thomas, evangelist to India, had great redeeming qualities.
As a tax collector, Matthew had effectively cut himself off not only from his own people, but also from God.
Nathanael’s (Bartholomew) mind was tainted by a degree of prejudice against Nazareth, but his heart was guileless.
Philip embraced Jesus as the Messiah from the beginning, yet even after seeing miracles and hearing Christ’s teaching for months, he missed the point that Jesus and God were of the same essence.
Because John, the Apostle of Love, outlived all the other apostles, he filled a unique and patriarchal roll in the early church that lasted nearly to the end of the 1st century and reached deep into Asia Minor. His personal influence was therefore indelibly stamped on the primitive church, well into the post-apostolic era.
His family connections did not prevent James from being the first of the Apostles to be martyred.
Of the four disciples in the inner circle, Andrew appears the least contentious and the most thoughtful. He lived his whole life in the shadow of Peter, and apparently accepted that role. He was poised and comfortable introducing people to Christ because he did it often.
Spiritual Meditations 