St. James the Apostle

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Friday, 25 July 2025 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates together the occasion of the Feast of St. James the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles and one of the three who were always brought by the Lord to His important events and works, together with his brother, St. John the Apostle, and with St. Peter the Apostle. This St. James is also known as St. James the Greater and must not be confused with other St. James, such as St. James the Lesser or St. James, son of Alphaeus, or with St. James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem who was also associated with the Lord as one of His brothers, likely one of the sons of St. Joseph from prior marriage. St. James the Apostle that we celebrate today is St. James, son of Zebedee, the elder brother of St. John the Apostle.

Let us all now first look upon our Scripture passages today, beginning with our first reading today, where we heard of the account from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the region of Corinth where the Apostle spoke of the hope that each and every one of the faithful and holy people of God ought to have with them, trusting in the Lord and in His Providence so that all of us who believe in Him will not lose faith in Him and will not lose hope, knowing that in the Lord there is always hope and renewal, consolation and true happiness that no one and nothing else can provide to us. The Lord will always be with His people that while they may have to encounter sufferings and challenges in life, trials and difficulties, and all sorts of obstacles but those things will not crush them or utterly defeat them as long as the Lord is by their side.

And God is also ever always faithful to the Covenant which He had made with all of us, His beloved ones, all the promises and reassurances that He has provided to us. He has never been wrong in all the things that He has said, He was never fickle or untrustworthy, He is always ever loyal even when we ourselves have been disobedient, disloyal and untrustworthy. God is always ever consistent in loving us, and He chose to willingly bear the burden of that Cross as the ultimate proof of His consistency and love, His faithfulness to the Covenant He made with us, and why we too should trust in God and in His Providence, that through our genuine and strong faith in all that God provides us, we will always remain truly attuned to Him, not being easily swayed by all sorts of temptations and presents around us.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the moment when St. James and St. John together with their mother came before the Lord and asked Him for a special favour, for the two of them to be granted a seat by the Lord’s left and right in His Kingdom. This reflects the general and common understanding of the role of the Messiah or the Saviour promised by God at that time. At that time, many among the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites, the chosen people of God, thought that the Messiah would come into their midst as the mighty Heir of David, a conquering King that would lead all the people of God in a great war of liberation and crusade, freeing themselves from their Roman overlords adn then restoring the Kingdom of Israel as how it was in the days of David and Solomon.

That was why both St. James and St. John, when they went with their mother to ask for favour and position in Christ’s Kingdom, they were in fact referring to this earthly and worldly kingdom that many fellow Jewish people had been looking forward to. And as two among the three disciples that the Lord had always brought with Him on His important events and works, they had a good chance to gain special favours ahead of those other disciples, and becoming the trusted right hand men of the King. But they were still thinking in worldly terms, in worldly ambitions and glory, and all the pursuits of worldly power that were actually fleeting in nature. And that was why the Lord Jesus told them that things actually did not work in the manner that they had visualised or understood it, and being His followers is not about worldly glory and greatness, but faith and trust in Him, and readiness to share in the sufferings of the Lord.

Now, let us all examine the Apostolic ministry of St. James the Apostle after he and the other Apostles had been commissioned, entrusted and sent forth by the Lord to evangelise and spread His Good News, truth and salvation to all the people of all the nations. St. James, according to Apostolic traditions and hagiographies, went to the region of Hispania, the present day parts of Spain and Portugal, a region that at the time of the Lord was a rather distant place, being at the two extreme ends of the Roman Empire as compared to Judea and Jerusalem. Yet, despite the great distance and the challenges that he might have faced and encountered, that did not deter St. James from doing his best in his ministry and work of evangelisation.

He preached the Good News to the people of the region of Hispania, planting the seeds of the faith in that area, and in the miraculous occasion of Our Lady of the Pillar, it was told that when his evangelisation works encountered great obstacles and he was demoralised, at the banks of the River Ebro in Hispania, St. James encountered a vision of Mary, the Blessed Mother of God, who likely then still alive, appearing before him surrounded by a mighty host of a thousand Angels of God, and encouraging him, while at the same time also calling on him to return to Jerusalem where his presence was needed. That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, while the famous tomb and shrine of St. James is located at Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, the place of his ministry, but he was martyred in Jerusalem in Judea as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.

It was in Jerusalem that he was arrested with the other Apostles and under the order from King Herod Agrippa I, the then king of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, he was beheaded, which the king did in order to please and satisfy the Jewish leaders, the members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council. That was how this faithful Apostle and great servant of God met the end of his life, in service to God and in great courage in carrying out the commands of the Lord. And as we can see, he did indeed drink of the cup of suffering that the Lord Himself had drunk, dying in martyrdom for his faith. His true glory and joy came not with the glory of the world that he and his brother had once sought, but through true faith and dedication to their Lord and Saviour.

Let us all continue to be inspired by the examples and faith of St. James the Apostle, and let us all do our very best so that in our own lives, in each and every one of our own actions, we will continue to be faithful to God, be committed to Him in all things, and strive to glorify Him by our every lives and every things we have, in our every actions, words and deeds. May all of our efforts, good endeavours and works continue to inspire everyone around us, and that we may be good and worthy beacons of God’s light and truth, His Good News and love, to all those whom we encounter daily in life. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 25 July 2025 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 20 : 20-28

At that time, the mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt down, to ask a favour. Jesus said to her, “What do you want?” And she answered, “Here, You have my two sons. Grant, that they may sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your kingdom.”

Jesus said to the brothers, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We can.” Jesus replied, “You will indeed drink My cup; but to sit at My right or at My left is not for Me to grant. That will be for those, for whom My Father has prepared it.”

The other then heard all this, and were angry with the two brothers. Then Jesus called them to Him and said, “You know, that the rulers of nations behave like tyrants, and the powerful oppress them. It shall not be so among you : whoever wants to be great in your community, let him minister to the community. And if you want to be the first of all, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man, Who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life to redeem many.”

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Friday, 25 July 2025 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 125 : 1-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

When YHVH brought the exiles back to Zion, we were like those moving in a dream. Then, our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with songs of joy.

Among the nations it was said, “YHVH has done great things for them.” YHVH had done great things for us, and we were glad indeed.

Bring back our exiles, o YHVH, like fresh streams in the desert. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs and shouts of joy.

They went forth weeping, bearing the seeds for sowing, they will come home with joyful shouts, bringing their harvested sheaves.

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Friday, 25 July 2025 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

2 Corinthians 4 : 7-15

However, we carry this treasure in vessels of clay, so that this all-surpassing power may not be seen as ours, but as God’s. Trials of every sort come to us, but we are not discouraged. We are left without answer, but do not despair; persecuted but not abandoned, knocked down but not crushed.

At any moment, we carry, in our person, the death of Jesus, so, that, the life of Jesus may also be manifested in us. For we, the living, are given up continually to death, for the sake of Jesus, so, that, the life of Jesus may appear in our mortal existence. And as death is at work in us, life comes to you.

We have received the same Spirit of faith referred to in Scripture, that says : I believed and so I spoke. We also believed, and so we speak. We know that He, Who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us, with Jesus, and bring us, with you, into His presence. Finally, everything is for your good, so that grace will come more abundantly upon you, and great will be the thanksgiving for the glory of God.

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Saturday, 3 May 2025 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates not just one but two of the great Apostles of the Lord, two of the Twelve Apostles that the Lord had chosen to be His principal disciples and followers, the ones who belonged to His inner circle, those whom He had called and chosen to be the ones to continue to lead His works and all that He had entrusted to His Church. They are St. Philip and also St. James, the latter of which should not be confused with St. James the brother of St. John. The St. James that we are celebrating today is also known as St. James the Less, who was mentioned as such likely because of his smaller posture and not because of lesser in importance. Both of these great servants of God dedicated their lives to the Lord and did their best to carry out the missions entrusted to them.

First of all, let us look through our Scripture passages today before we delve into the lives and works of those two great Apostles. In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in the region of Corinth, we heard of the testimony of faith by St. Paul himself who exhorted the people of God to share the faith which they have in God so that many more people may come to believe in Him as well, just as he shared how he himself had received the faith through encounter with the Lord and the other Apostles. Through what we have heard today in this passage from the Epistle to the Corinthians we are reminded that we should always be ready to proclaim our faith wherever we are and to whoever it is that we encounter in life.

Then, from our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. In that account we heard the Lord Jesus interacting with His disciples who listened to Him teaching to them, and that was where St. Philip, whom we celebrate today, asked Him after He said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, for Him to show them the Father. The Lord then told the disciples that whenever they see Him, they had truly seen and known the Father, highlighting the special relationship between Him as the Son and the Heavenly Father. The Lord told them that since He came from the Father, and that He is indeed co-equal and co-eternal, consubstantial with the Father, therefore His Presence in their midst indeed shows the loving Presence of the Father, the Creator Lord Himself.

And this is why the Apostles, having witnessed the Lord Himself, being presented to them in the flesh, approachable and tangible to them, and having listened to the words and teachings of the Lord, the many miracles and signs that He has performed before them, they truly believed and had firm faith in the Lord. This firm and strong faith was what they passed on to the others around them, proclaiming the Risen Lord and His truth and Good News, touching the lives and hearts of many people, calling them to conversion and to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. This faith is what we have ourselves received through the Church, having been passed down to us through the many generations of Christians, many of whom have suffered and faced challenges and difficulties in living their faith in God.

For St. Philip and St. James themselves, they had devoted their lives in ministering to the people of God and to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to more and more people who have not yet heard of the Good News of God. St. Philip went to the region of Syria, Phrygia and Greece together with other Apostles like St. Bartholomew. St. Philip according to one Apostolic tradition was martyred together with St. Bartholomew in the city known as Hierapolis. It was told that through his preaching about the Lord and miracles that he performed, he converted the wife of the city’s pro-consul who was therefore enraged and ordered the Apostles to be arrested, persecuted and eventually martyred by crucifixion. But St. Philip remained firm in his faith to the very end, suffering martyrdom for the glory of God.

Meanwhile, St. James the Apostle, also known as St. James the Less was associated with other St. James the relative of Jesus and St. James, son of Alphaeus. The former was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, ministering to the faithful people of God in Jerusalem and Judea, while the other St. James also took part in missionary activities to the people in various places like that of St. Philip. Eventually, despite the relative lack of detailed evidence and historiography on these Apostles, what is certain is such that those holy servants of God gave their all in serving God, and they suffered persecutions and hardships from all those who hardened their hearts and closed the doors of their minds and hearts against the truth and Good News of God. St. James, like that of St. Philip also faced similar trials and sufferings. But both of them remained strong and courageous amidst the persecutions and kept their faith in the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we all reflect upon these words of the Scriptures and upon the lives of the Holy Apostles, St. Philip and St. James, who have dedicated themselves so wonderfully to the Lord and His cause, let us all also follow in their examples in how we ourselves should live faithful and committed lives as Christians, in loving God and in loving those whom we love and everyone else around us. We are the ones to continue the good works that the Apostles had started and there are indeed still a lot of areas where our contributions are important and needed. We must remember that our actions and efforts are part of the larger works and efforts of the Church, and hence we should be active in living our lives faithfully and contributing actively to the good of the Church, to the works of charity and evangelisation, among others.

May the glorious Risen Lord continue to be with us all, His faithful ones just as He has always guided His faithful servants, especially St. Philip and St. James, Holy Apostles, whose lives and works we remember today. May He continue to bless us in our every good works, our deeds and actions so that by our every endeavours, our dedication and commitment to Him, we may truly glorify Him and proclaim Him to our world today. Holy Apostles, St. Philip and St. James, pray for us all always. Amen.

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Saturday, 3 May 2025 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 14 : 6-14

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you know Me, you will know the Father also; indeed you know Him, and you have seen Him.”

Philip asked Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough.” Jesus said to him, “What! I have been with you so long and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever sees Me sees the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?”

“All that I say to you, I do not say of Myself. The Father Who dwells in Me is doing His own work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do. Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in Me will do the same works that I do; and he will even do greater than these, for I am going to the Father.”

“Everything you ask in My Name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon My Name, I will do.”

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Saturday, 3 May 2025 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 18 : 2-3, 4-5

The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Day talks it over with day; night hands on the knowledge to night.

No speech, no words, no voice is heard – but the call goes on throughout the universe, the message is felt to the ends of the earth.

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Saturday, 3 May 2025 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 Corinthians 15 : 1-8

Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the Good News that I preached to you and which you received and on which you stand firm. By that Gospel you are saved, provided that you hold to it as I preached it. Otherwise, you will have believed in vain.

In the first place, I have passed on to you what I myself received that Christ died for our sins, as Scripture says; that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Afterwards He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most of them are still alive, although some have already gone to rest.

Then He appeared to James and after that to all the Apostles. And last of all, He appeared to the most despicable of them, this is to me.

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Sunday, 22 September 2024 : Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 3 : 16 – James 4 : 3

Wherever there is jealousy and ambition, you will also find discord, and all that is evil. Instead, the wisdom that comes from above is pure and peace-loving. Persons with this wisdom show understanding, and listen to advice; they are full of compassion and good works; they are impartial and sincere. Peacemakers, who sow peace, reap a harvest of justice.

What causes these fights and quarrels among you? Is it not your cravings, that make war within your two selves? When you long for something you cannot have, you kill for it, and when you do not get what you desire, you squabble and fight. The fact is, you do not have what you want, because you do not pray for it.

You pray for something, and you do not get it, because you pray with the wrong motive, of indulging your pleasures.

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Thursday, 25 July 2024 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are celebrating the Feast of one of the Twelve Apostles of Our Lord, namely that of St. James the Apostle, also known as St. James the Greater, the brother of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. St. James was the son of Zebedee, a fisherman who worked and lived by the Lake of Galilee, and consequently, St. James and St. John themselves were fishermen at that same place. It was one of the days of his work when the Lord came to the place where St. James and the other fishermen performed their work, that St. John the Apostle, his younger brother, which Apostolic tradition showed us as a follower of St. John the Baptist, introduced the Lord Jesus, recently baptised by the former. It was at that occasion that the Lord called His first disciples from among those simple fishermen, namely the brothers St. Peter and St. Andrew, as well as St. James himself and St. John.

St. James became one of the Twelve members of the Lord’s inner circle, and among these twelve, He was one of the three that the Lord often brought with Him on various important events during His ministry, together with St. Peter, the one whom the Lord would appoint as the leader and chief of all the Apostles and disciples, as well as his own younger brother, St. John. St. James was there in various events such as the Transfiguration at Mount Tabor, the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus the synagogue official, the moment when the Lord went to the Gardens of Gethsemane prior to His Passion, and many others. St. James and the other two members of the Apostles mentioned were indeed very close confidants of the Lord and witnessed all those important events themselves. After the Lord rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, St. James went on to serve the Lord faithfully as one of His Apostles, proclaiming the Good News in distant places and around the Holy Land alike.

According to the Apostolic traditions, St. James was involved in ministries in the lands of Israel earlier on in his works, and then, he took up a distant missionary journey and work in Hispania, in what is today parts of Spain and Portugal, on the opposite side of the Mediterranean Sea. St. James went to the region of northern Spain, at the area of Galicia where it was told that he carried out his mission in proclaiming the Word of God and His Good News to the local populace. It is the area where St. James would later on be buried after his martyrdom, where now stands the great Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the main and most famous shrine dedicated to St. James in the world. He also encountered a vision of the Blessed Virgin, Mary, Mother of God as he was carrying out his mission in that region, an apparition known later as Our Lady of the Pillar.

St. James would eventually return back to the Holy Land, and faced persecution from the local Jewish people and leaders, who opposed the Christian missionaries and works, and as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, it was told that St. James was arrested and imprisoned by King Herod Agrippa, the Herodian King of Galilee, who then killed St. James by beheading to satisfy and appease the Jewish leaders and community. Thus, St. James would be the first of the Holy Apostles of the Lord to be martyred and die, giving up his life in the defence of his faith. It is interesting then to take note how on the other hand, St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, his younger brother, was the only one who was not martyred and lived the longest among the Apostles.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Corinth in which the Apostle spoke of the challenges and hardships that the faithful and holy people of God would be facing amidst their lives and journeys of faith, their works and missions. Essentially St. Paul was also speaking of his own experiences, and what the other Apostles like that of St. James had also faced amidst their own ministries, works and missions, and what we ourselves as Christians may have also experienced throughout our own lives, and what we may yet encounter in our own paths. But at the same time, St. Paul also reminded us all that we have this most precious treasure in us, that is the gift of salvation through Christ, as God Himself has come to dwell in our midst.

This is an important reminder that amidst all the challenges that we may be facing in our respective lives, we must not lose faith in God, and we ought to continue to persevere in faith, in all the things that we say and do, in our every efforts to commit ourselves to the Lord. All of us must always keep our focus firmly aimed at the Lord, and not to allow ourselves to be swayed by the many temptations present around us, or by the persuasions to give in to despair and thus abandon the Lord, our God, because we seek to save ourselves and to avoid the sufferings and persecutions. That is why as Christians we should always strive to be inspired by the examples of the saints, the holy men and women of God, especially that of St. James the Apostle, whose memory and inspiration we remember and venerate today.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we listened to the Gospel according to St. Matthew where the account of the Lord telling His two disciples, the two sons of Zebedee, namely St. James himself and his brother St. John of the reality of being a disciple of His. At that time, as we heard from the Gospel passage, the mother of St. James and St. John came up to the Lord to ask from Him a special favour for her two sons. As mentioned earlier on, the Lord had already brought both of them and St. Peter to witness important events in His ministry and works, and they were likely seen as the favourites of the Lord. This led to the other disciples being jealous of the two of them, and bickered and grumbled about what they and their mother were trying to do.

The Lord therefore put an end to their bickering by telling them that to be His disciples and followers, then they had to embrace the path of Christian service, to be serving one another and to be humble rather than to seek vainglory and ambition. For the Lord Himself has shown with perfect example through His obedience and humility, in coming to us to show us the perfect love of God manifested in His Son. He would Himself also face great sufferings and persecutions just like what His disciples and followers would face. This cup of suffering which He received and drank, is truly the Cup of His Most Precious Blood, shed from His broken Body on the Cross. As Christians, all of us are reminded therefore that we must share in Christ’s sufferings just as we will also share eventually in the fullness of His glory and grace.

Let us all therefore remind ourselves and one another that each and every one of us are the ones to continue the great works which the Lord Himself has begun and entrusted to His Apostles. We should always strive to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, of St. James the Apostle and the others, and the many other holy men and women who had followed them as well, as have become an equally great source of inspiration for us all. Each and every one of us as Christians should always be exemplary in the conduct of our whole lives and actions, in our every words, actions and deeds, and in our every interactions with one another so that we may truly be worthy and holy disciples, role models and examples for our fellow brethren all around us.

May the Lord continue to bless us all and be with us, and may He continue to strengthen and empower each and every one of us so that by our exemplary lives and actions, and ever inspired by the wonderful examples of His saints, especially that of St. James the Apostle, we will continue to live a truly good and faithful Christian living, now and always, forevermore. Amen.