Today, we celebrate the feast of
St. James the Apostle. This feast has been celebrated in the West since eight
century on July 25. But who is St. James? James was the son of Zebedee and
Salome (Mk 15:40; Mt 27:59). He is the brother of John the Evangelist.
Among the important events in the
history of James, he was the first apostle to shed blood for Christ. He was
beheaded by Herod Agrippa I in the year 42 or 44, according to the Acts of the
Apostles 12: 2-3.
James was one of the three
privileged apostles, together with Peter and John. He witnessed the healing of
Peter’s mother-in-law (Mt 1: 29-31), the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus
(Mk 5: 37-43), the transfiguration of Jesus (Mk 9: 2-8), and the agony in the
Garden (Mt 26: 37).
Among the passages of the Sacred
Scripture that gave a picture of James, the event of the two brothers asking
for the seats, one at his right and the other at his left (Mk 10: 35-45); would
be the most familiar. The lesson of this feast is like St. James, we sometimes
ask of the Lord more than we are ready or worthy to receive. We must become as
little children and accept from the hands of our heavenly Father whatever he
deigns to give us.
Let us try to look back in our
life. How often do we pray and ask God for many things? Most of us would say
always. Have we ever thought that He knows what we need? Have we ever
considered that instead of asking, he just wants us to talk to him and be with
him? This is our task today. Pray not asking things but pray to talk to Jesus
and just be with Jesus.
1 comment:
Post a Comment