Using value from resource bundle as the pattern to formatDate

[Derrick Koes]

I want to use a resource key value as the pattern for my formatDate.  The code 
below only gets the key name in ptrn variable.  How do I get the value 
associated with the key?  My fear is that this is correct, but the bundle tag 
isn't finding my application.properties file.

<fmt:bundle basename="application">
    <fmt:message key="ilt.time.format" var="ptrn">
        <fmt:formatDate value="${schedule.startDate}" pattern="${ptrn}" 
timeZone="${Session.timeZone}"/>
    </fmt:message>
</fmt:bundle>

Thanks,
Derrick