St. Philip and St. James

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Wednesday, 3 May 2023 : 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 the Feast of not just one but two of the great Apostles of the Lord, namely that of St. Philip and St. James, two of the Twelve Apostles, part of the innermost circle and closest collaborators of the Lord’s ministry and work. Both of them like that of the other Apostles and disciples of the Lord, went through many hardships and trials, and went from places to places to proclaim the Good News of the Lord, delivering the truth and love of God to more and more people who have not yet heard of Him or known Him. They laboured for many years in distant lands and in foreign places, among foreigners and others so that many more may come close to the salvation in God. Through their efforts and hard work, many have come close to the Lord and found the path to His grace, and not few followed in the footsteps of the Apostles.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, we heard of the testimony of faith that St. Paul delivered to the faithful in the city of Corinth, reminding them all to pass on the truth, knowledge and the wisdom of God’s truth which they had received from the hands of the Apostles and the other missionaries. St. Paul shared with them how he himself has received the same truth and teachings from the Apostles, who shared and passed on to him the truth about what happened in the Lord’s ministry, in everything that He had done for the sake of the salvation of the whole world. St. Paul himself did not witness everything that had happened but he received the same truth from the hands of the other Apostles and also through the wisdom and inspiration from the Holy Spirit.

The Apostles have been called and chosen to bring the Good News of the Lord to the nations, and in the case of St. Paul, while he himself never journeyed together with the Lord and His group, and in fact was an ardent and overzealous persecutor of Christians in his early moments, but this did not prevent the Lord from calling St. Paul and making him to be one of His greatest missionaries, proclaiming the message of His truth to more and more people that had not yet known Him and had not yet heard His words of truth and experienced His love. St. Paul hence shared to the people of God, the faithful in Corinth that each and every one of them ought to be missionary and evangelising as well, in committing their lives and works to the glorification of God and the proclamation of His truth and salvation. That is what all of us are called to do this day and henceforth.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard that the Lord told His disciples that He has indeed come from the Father, showing them all the fullness of God’s love and truth to them, and seeing Him is in truth the same as having seen God in His fullness of glory and love. That is because He was indeed the Love of God made manifest and perfect in this world, incarnate in the flesh as the Son of God and as the Son of Man. God has not hold back from us even His own most beloved Son, but sending Him into our midst so that all of us may experience the fullness of God’s love manifested in the flesh, as He appeared before us as the Son of Man, born of His blessed mother Mary, becoming the tangible expression of God’s ever generous love and grace. Through Christ His Son, God wants us all to experience the fullness of His love, and He wants us all to pass that love to more and more people we encounter in our own lives.

That is why each and every one of us are reminded that we should walk in the footsteps of the Holy Apostles. Both St. Philip and St. James were mentioned in today’s Scripture readings, with St. James being one of those from whom St. Paul mentioned that he had received the truth of God from, and St. Philip being present among the disciples as the Lord revealed to them in our Gospel passage today, about the truth of His nature and ministry. As mentioned, both Apostles having received, experienced and shared in the same truth of God, the fullness of His love manifested in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son, Who has suffered in His Passion, died on the cross and then Risen in glory to show us all the path to eternal life, they courageously and fearlessly went forth to proclaim this same truth to the many people and to the other disciples and followers of the Lord that they had encountered, like St. Paul and many others.

Now, as Christians, all of us have received this same truth and we are all called to follow the Apostles who had gone forth in proclaiming this truth, like St. Philip who had gone to many places in order to evangelise and spread the Good News. In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Philip was the one who proclaimed the Risen Lord to an Ethiopian official who then agreed to be baptised and become a Christian, and he was also involved in the evangelisation in the regions of Judea and Samaria, and then, he went on to other places like Syria, Greece and Phrygia in Asia Minor, among others. He ministered to the faithful and helped to build up the foundations of the Church in many places, showing encouragement and support for many of the faithful facing hardships and persecutions for their faith. According to Apostolic tradition, both St. Philip and St. Bartholomew went to the region of Hierapolis and proclaimed the Good News there, and it was there that he was martyred for his faith, either by crucifixion or beheading.

Meanwhile St. James, also known as St. James the Less, is often associated with another James, that is James son of Alphaeus, who also ministered to the faithful people of God, and proclaimed the Good News to many people all around the many regions where he had worked tirelessly to glorify the Lord. St. James also faced a lot of hardships and struggles, but he continued to spread the Good News nonetheless and inspired many among the faithful to carry on doing the same, as St. Philip and the other Apostles had done. According to one Apostolic tradition, he was martyred in the southern region of Egypt while in the midst of carrying out his mission, but what is certain is that, he died faithfully amidst the efforts he carried out to proclaim more and more of the Lord and His truth. This is the spirit that all of us should inherit as well, to be courageous in living our Christian lives and in proclaiming the Good News of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the dedication and examples showed by the Holy Apostles, St. Philip and St. James, and be strengthened and inspired to walk in the same path that they had walked. Let us all turn towards the Lord faithfully and dedicate ourselves to Him thoroughly, doing our very best to be faithful missionaries and evangelisers of our Christian faith, not just through mere words only, but also through genuine actions and works, in doing God’s will and obeying His Law and commandments, becoming true shining beacons of the Light of Christ in the midst of our community. May the Lord continue to be with us always and may He empower each one of us to walk in His presence at all times. St. Philip and St. James, Holy Apostles and devout servants of God, pray for us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 3 May 2023 : 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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Wednesday, 3 May 2023 : 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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Wednesday, 3 May 2023 : 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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Friday, 3 May 2019 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of not just one Apostles of Our Lord Jesus, but two of the Twelve Apostles, namely that of St. Philip and St. James the Greater. It is the same St. Philip and St. James mentioned in the Scripture passages today, which reminded us of the calling to which those Apostles have been called to do, that is to become the bearers of God’s truth and salvation to the people.

St. Philip and St. James were among those whom God first called to be His followers and His disciples, to be the witnesses of all the things that He has done before them, and the truth which He has taught and revealed to all the people of God. They were called to be the pillars of His Church, which He founded on the Apostles, as the rock of faith of Peter and his fellow Apostles, who became important pillars of support of the then young and growing Church.

St. Philip was remembered for his missionary activity in Samaria, the lands north of Judea, where he preached to the Samaritans to whom the Lord has also taught, and it was recorded in the Acts of the Apostles that he encountered the official of the queen of the Ethiopians, and he convinced the official so well that the official asked to be baptised and brought the faith with him back to his homeland, thus marking the beginning of the Church in the then distant land of Ethiopia.

St. Philip also went to various other places, spreading the faith, performing miracles and calling on the people to become believers of God. He went to many parts of Syria, Asia Minor and also Greece, before he suffered martyrdom in the Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis, where his tomb supposedly was today. St. Philip according to Apostolic tradition preached so well that he converted even the governor’s wife, enraging the governor, who ordered the saint and his fellow companions, including St. Bartholomew, another Apostle, to be tortured and crucified upside down.

Even then, St. Philip did not stop to testify the faith and preach from the cross, converting many of those who have heard him preaching even at the door of death. And although they wanted to release him, St. Philip insisted that he remained on the cross, and thus, he entered into heavenly glory as a martyr, and by whose dedication and commitment, many had been saved, and many more were inspired by his faith and examples.

Meanwhile, St. James went to various places, preaching the faith, and it was told that he went even as far as Hispania, in what is presently Spain and Portugal, preaching the faith and the truth of God, sowing the seeds of Christianity in those faraway lands, and when he returned to Jerusalem, he was among the first of the Apostles to be martyred, as recorded also in the Acts of the Apostles, how king Herod imprisoned St. James and beheaded him in order to please the Sanhedrin and the Jewish opponents of the Lord.

Both St. Philip and St. James had dedicated their whole lives in commitment to God, giving their whole lives in service to the Lord, fulfilling the mission which God has entrusted to them. But their works were not yet completed, and they merely laid the foundation and the beginning from which many Christians throughout the centuries have been called to follow in their footsteps, in serving God and in committing themselves faithfully to God’s commandments.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us as Christians today are called to be followers of Christ in the model established by the Apostles, and we remember especially the memory of St. Philip and St. James, whose dedication and faith have become inspiration to many of us, to follow the Lord and to serve Him as they have once done, in their courageous and tireless efforts to bring God’s truth and salvation to His people.

Let us all therefore do the same in our own respective lives, brothers and sisters in Christ that each and every one of us will continue to serve the Lord faithfully, and commit ourselves wholeheartedly from now on, loving God and loving our fellow men, and becoming the beacons of God’s light and truth among the people of this world, so that all of us who are Christians may lead even many more of others to the Lord, to His truth and salvation.

Holy Apostles, St. Philip and St. James, pray for us all, that each and every one of us may be courageous and may be moved by your examples, that we may make good use of the talents and abilities God has given us in being bearers of His truth, that many more will come to believe in God and in His salvation, with the same conviction and courage, love and dedication as both of you had once shown. Amen.

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Friday, 3 May 2019 : 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.”

by

Friday, 3 May 2019 : 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.

by

Friday, 3 May 2019 : 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.

by

Wednesday, 3 May 2017 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great feast of not just one, but two of the Lord’s very own Twelve Apostles, namely St. Philip the Apostle, and St. James the Apostle, or St. James the Greater, to distinguish him from the other St. James, the Lesser, the half-brother and relative of the Lord. The Apostles were all those whom God had chosen to be His principal disciples, those whom He had entrusted great tasks in carrying out the Good News and its preaching to the many nations, and also as those who would lead the Church that He had established in this world.

It was told in the Acts of the Apostles that St. Philip converted the official of the Queen of the Ethiopians, who was travelling home from Jerusalem to his homeland. St. Philip taught him the truth about what the prophets, particularly that of the prophet Isaiah, had spoken out about the coming of the Messiah and the salvation of the world. He explained to him how Jesus is the Messiah and the perfect fulfilment of God’s long promised salvation for His people.

St. Philip explained with such great clarity and zeal that the official believed in him and the truth which he had heard. As a result, the official asked to be baptised as a Christian, and St. Philip agreed to do so. The official then went on his way to home, carrying the truth of God and the message of the Gospels to his own people. This was told to be the beginning of the Church and the Christian faith among the Ethiopians.

St. Philip and also St. James went to various places, from town to town, and from places to places, spreading the Good News of God to the people, preaching about the salvation in Jesus Christ among the Jews, among the Samaritans and among Gentiles, the Greeks and other foreign peoples. Many converted to the faith and believed in the Lord, having heard the testimony of the faith of the Apostles, and after having seen the miracles of God performed through them.

St. Philip went to many places, throughout what is now Greece and Turkey, helping to establish many early Christian communities in those places. St. James meanwhile was told to travel to many places throughout the Roman Empire, and ended up in Spain, then called Hispania, preaching the Gospel of Christ there and helping to establish the first foundation of the Church in that remote area of the Empire.

Both St. Philip and St. James would encounter great persecutions, rejections and sufferings during their ministries and works. St. James himself was among the first of the Apostles of the Lord to suffer martyrdom, as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. St. James was arrested by king Herod, king of Galilee, who then proceeded to put him to death in order to please the Jewish leaders.

St. Philip, meanwhile, met great resistance in some of the places he went to, and eventually was put to death in the Greek city of Hierapolis by the local governor, who persecuted the Christians there and rejected the teachings of Christ. It was told that St. Philip, together with the other Apostle, St. Bartholomew, were crucified upside down, but they met their end in martyrdom with joy, knowing that God was with them all the way to the end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the examples of the holy Apostles St. Philip and St. Bartholomew should be inspiration for each one of us, in how we should live out our faith life. There are still many people out there who have not yet heard the Good News of the Lord, and still lived in the darkness of ignorance and sin. If we do not do anything, then these brethren of ours may fall into eternal damnation in hell, and surely, we should not allow such a thing to happen.

All of us should be courageous in our faith, and be strong in our commitment to the Lord as they had done. Let us all commit ourselves to God more faithfully and with more zeal and strength, as we listened to the truth and the story of the Apostles today. We have to continue the good works they have started, for the salvation of all mankind. Amen.

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Wednesday, 3 May 2017 : 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.”