ST. JAMES, APOSTLE - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I chose you from the world

to go out and bear fruit,

fruit that will last,

says the Lord. JN 15:16

2 CORINTHIANS 4:7-15

My Soul's Beloved,

You took Twelve ordinary men with nothing to qualify them for the great mission that You would entrust to them. They were mostly illiterate fishermen, one we know was a tax collector and was despised by the Jewish community. There was absolutely nothing outstanding about any of them but when You had finished with them, You fitted them to be the 12 princes in Your Church, the first bishops with Peter at the Head holding the Keys of the Kingdom. They were the fulfillment of the 12 Tribes of Jacob. 

They lived with You for three years. You formed them, instructed them, taught them, and made them witnesses to all the marvels and signs that You worked, while Peter, James, and John were chosen to be even closer to You and the only witnesses to certain events in Your earthly life. 

They image for us perfectly what being an apostle and a disciple entails. They, as St. Paul puts it, were mere humans, subject to all the frailties that our fallen race is subject to, and yet after Pentecost, filled with Your Holy Spirit, they set the world on fire with the love of God and they laid down their lives, like their Master, for Your Sake and for the sake of the Gospel. 

Every good and perfect gift comes from above and is given to all the baptized without distinction, what we do with them is our responsibility. But let us never forget that as Catholics, we belong to those to whom much is given, and hence much more will be demanded from us.  Where the Head is there must the members of the body be for apart from You, we can do nothing. You are the Vine and we the branches. As long as we remain in You, Lord, we can fear nothing. 

Your life is the blueprint on which we must model our lives just as the Twelve did. We are not left to muddle along on our own strength. The Holy Spirit is given to us and with Him and the Sacraments that the Church administers to us, we can boldly carry out the mandate given to every disciple to go out into the world and preach the Good News to all nations.

As St. Paul reminds us today, we share the same faith as the Apostles and because we do we will preach and teach the Gospel through our lives:

But as we have the same spirit of faith that is mentioned in scripture – I believed, and therefore I spoke – we too believe and therefore we too speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus to life will raise us with Jesus in our turn, and put us by his side and you with us. You see, all this is for your benefit, so that the more grace is multiplied among people, the more thanksgiving there will be, to the glory of God.

PSALM 125(126:1-6

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,

  it seemed like a dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

  on our lips there were songs.

The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels

  the Lord worked for them!’

What marvels the Lord worked for us!

  Indeed we were glad.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage

  as streams in dry land.

Those who are sowing in tears

  will sing when they reap.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,

  carrying seed for the sowing:

they come back, they come back, full of song,

  carrying their sheaves.

Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

MATTHEW 20:20-28

My Soul's Beloved,

Humility is the hallmark of God who lovingly stoops low over His weak, sinful, frail, children. If God is humble how much more must we recognize our nothingness before You, O Lord. You are equal to God and yet in perfect obedience to Your Father's will and in humility You left Your glory behind to become like us, clothed in human flesh and subject to all the frailites of the human condition except You did not sin. 

We, however, like the Mother of James and John as well as like her sons, vie for a place of prominence and importance. We desire to be recognized and celebrated. We are easily hurt and discouraged if we are not taken notice of. But You have shown us the right way to live, the acceptable Way, the Way that the Father desires. Mary, Your Mother, St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist, and every great saint in the Church have emulated Your Way of humility, obedience, and servant leadership. There is no other way to the Kingdom of God except that we become like little children desiring nothing more than that which is given to us and being content with what we receive. 

When the others heard of the request that the mother of James and John made they were indignant because they too misunderstood that Kingdom that You came to bring about on earth - a Kingdom of peace, justice, and above all love. This is what You said to them then and to us today:

 ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

You came not to be served but to serve and give Your life as a ransom for many - may we too desire nothing more than this - to be servants and to desire nothing more than to be of service to all for Your Sake and for the glory of God.