St. James the Greater
Saturday, July 25th Readings Reflection: Feast of Saint James, Apostle
Today is the Feast of St. James the Greater, one of Our Lord’s Twelve Apostles. St. James, along with his brother St. John the Beloved Disciple, were the sons of Zebedee and Salome. Salome was among the women who went to Christ’s tomb on the morning of His Resurrection to anoint His Body. Our Lord nicknamed James and John the “Sons of Thunder” due to their fiery spirits.
This fiery spirit can be seen in today’s Gospel, in which the Sons of Thunder asked their mother to request that Christ bestow honors upon them. The brothers asked to sit at Christ’s left and right in His Kingdom. Our Lord, in return, asked if they were willing to drink His chalice, and when they affirmed their willingness to do so, He said that they would indeed drink of it. This chalice refers to the chalice of martyrdom. While St. John willingly faced martyrdom, he was miraculously spared harm from the boiling oil intended to take his life.
St. James the Greater was the first of the Twelve Apostles to be martyred, receiving death by decapitation at the order of King Herod. He is the patron saint of Spain because, according to tradition, he traveled throughout Spain and Portugal preaching the Gospel after receiving the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. After his death, the body of St. James was brought back to Spain and buried in what is today known as the Basilica of Santiago de Compostela, where thousands of pilgrims flock each year, often after walking one of the many pilgrimage routes to the shrine on foot, a tradition dating back to the 9th century.
St. James’s fiery spirit led him to unhesitatingly answer Our Lord’s question in today’s Gospel, giving his “yes” to the prospect of martyrdom even if he did not fully understand what this meant at the time. On this his feast day, may he pray for us to share that same enthusiasm and zeal for Christ, by which we might be willing to endure any suffering in order to attain Heaven ourselves and to save souls.
St. James, ora pro nobis!
