Friday 25, 2014, Community Mass
Feast of Saint James
James "the
Greater"
>> and his brother John are called by Jesus as they mend their nets in
their boat on the Sea of Galilee.
>> He belongs to the inner circle of the Apostles.
>> With Peter and John, he witnesses the cure of Peters mother-in-law, the raising
of [airus' daughter,
>> Jesus' Transfiguration, and his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
>> The
mother of lames and John asks Jesus to give
them the seats
at either side of him, positions of honour and authority.
>> This prompts Jesus' teaching:
the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many (Mt 20:28). (Magnificat.com)
First among the apostles, was martyred by beheading in Jerusalem around the year 43/44 by order of Herod Agrippa. The tomb containing his remains, transferred from Jerusalem after the martyrdom, would have been discovered at the time of Charlemagne in 814.'s Tomb became a place of great medieval pilgrimage, so that the place took the name of Santiago (from Sancti Jacobi, in Spanish Sant-Yago), and in 1075 began the construction of the magnificent basilica dedicated to him. (iBreviary)
Night Office, Patristic Reading.
25
July Saint James Feast
First Reading
From the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:1-16)
Responsory Acts 4:33.31
With mighty power * the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
- and they were all treated with great respect.
They were filled with the Holy Spirit,
and boldly proclaimed the word of God;
- and they were ...
Second Reading From a homily in praise of
Saint James by Nicetas of Paphlagonia (Or.5:PG 105,89- 100)
James and John, together with the great Peter, were thought worthy
to receive the chief and supreme honor from Christ. As his most faithful disciples
he showed them on the mountain the dazzling appearance of his divine body. He also
told them, as his closest friends, of the agony and distress that lay before
him on account of his human nature; and immediately after the Last Supper he
took them with him to assist him with their prayers, although, wearied by their
great grief, they were overcome by sleep. In all their association with the Lord
there was no difference, I think, between these two servants of God, no difference
in their fervent zeal, their genuine faith and their perfect love, or even in the
coming upon them of the Holy Spirit from above, in the assignment of tongues and
the division of gifts. So far the two of them can be praised as one, conformed
as they were to the image of Christ, and confirmed and marked in the same way by
the one Holy Spirit. But since each had a separate time as well as manner of
death, for that we must give them separate praise.
So we salute you, James, fervent preacher of the gospel truth, who
with Peter and John hold the highest position and the chief dignity among the apostles.
We salute you, as one who drank Christ's cup in advance of your fellow disciples,
and were baptized with the baptism of your Savior as he promised you, and are
adorned with the double crown of apostle and martyr.
We salute you, blessed eye-witness of the Word, you who see God,
for you have changed one fishing-ground for another, one desire for another, and
one inheritance for another; in place of things unstable you have gained those that
last, and in place of an earthly passing world you have gained a changeless heavenly
world.
We salute you, who as you formerly had direct physical contact with
the God-man on earth, so do you now, united with him in spirit, converse with him
face to face in heaven.
Responsory
see Ps
18:4.5; Wis 5:1
There is no tongue, no language * in which their message is not heard.
- Their voice has resounded all over the world; their words to the ends of the earth.
The just will stand up with great confidence before those who afflicted them.
- Their voice ...
