HOMILY FOR THURSDAY 16TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME B
FEAST OF ST. JAMES
Today we celebrate the feast of James the Greater, Apostle. James was the son of Zebedee the fisherman and Salome, the sister/cousin of Jesus’ mother, and the brother of John, the Evangelist and Apostle. James was one of Jesus’ inner circle of three disciples who had the privilege of witnessing the Transfiguration, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus, and Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane. He is in the first three of every list of the apostles in the four Gospels. Jesus called James and John “boanerges,” or “sons of thunder,” probably because of their volatile character and high ambitions: they once offered to “call down fire from Heaven”— the power he had given them for their mission's journeys — on the Samaritan village which had refused Jesus permission to cross through their village because he was going to Jerusalem. Jesus refused the offer. Later, James was known as James the Greater to distinguish him from James the Less (the son of Clopas), who was leader of the Church in Jerusalem and wrote the Epistle that bears his name. James the Greater was probably the first apostle martyred — by Herod in 44 AD, in that Tetrarch’s attempt to please the Jews (Acts 12:1-3).
The incident described in today’s Gospel shows us how ambitious, far-sighted, and power-hungry James and his brother John were in their youth with their impulsive and hot-tempered Galilean blood. They asked their mother to ask Jesus to make them the second and third in command when Jesus established his Messianic Kingdom after ousting the Romans. They must have been shocked when their request prompted Jesus to make a third prediction of his passion and death, promising them a share in his sufferings. Jesus told the apostles that it was only the spirit of service which would make his disciples “great,” because he himself had come “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” St. James the Greater is the patron saint of Spain.
Dear brothers and sisters, the leaders in Jesus’ Church must be the servants of all as Mary was (“Behold the handmaid of the Lord“). That is why the Pope is called “the servant of the servants of God” and the priesthood of our pastors is called “ministerial priesthood.” secondly, Our vocation as Christians is to serve others sacrificially, hence, we are called to do this with agape love in all humility, without expecting anything in return, and our spiritual leaders must be humble, loving, selfless, and serviceable, just as Jesus was, for our Lord loved and served us all.
Pax Vobis
Catholic Diocese of Ilorin, Kwara State,
1 comment:
Lovely
Post a Comment