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For the times we have been less effective in our baptism of glory with you, Lord, have mercy...
For the times we have been less effective in our baptism of pain and blood in day-to-day life, Christ, have mercy…
For the times we have been less effective in our baptism of humble service with and for others, Lord, have mercy…
My dear sisters and brothers,
Today, we celebrate the feast of St. James, also known as James the Greater, who was among the inner circle of Jesus' disciples, along with his brother John and Simon Peter.
James and his brother John, the evangelist, had a similar calling like Peter in the Sea of Galilee while they were mending their fishing nets with their father.
At the beginning of his journey with Jesus, James and his brother John were known as the "Sons of Thunder," reflecting their impulsive and fiery natures or temperaments. But through their companionship with Jesus, they learned to channel their energy into love and service.
It is in this inner journey of transformation, we read the Gospel text of today, where his mother comes to Jesus asking a favor to be granted to them: "Allow my two sons to sit at your right and at your left".
Jesus realizing the gravity of this request, poses a question back to these two brothers, almost as a way of testing their fidelity. "Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?"
My dear sisters and brothers, James and his brother John not only replied ‘Yes, Lord, we can’ verbally… But they exemplified it and concretized their ‘Yes Lord’ in their very actions and in their very being as well...
They were two of the three privileged disciples who accompanied Jesus at his transfiguration on the mountain of Tabor, at his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, and at his miracles such as raising Jairus’ daughter to life… In other words, they were with Jesus, they were accompanying Jesus, and they were witnessing to Jesus, in his baptism of glory, in his baptism of blood, and in his baptism of humble and tireless service….
Not only that, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, St. James kept up to these three baptisms that he received so fervently from Jesus in him that he went around the world preaching the Good News fearlessly like St. Paul. Consequently, as the Acts of the Apostles reminds us and the first reading of today elaborates, he did drink the cup of agony and blood that Jesus drank by apparently being the first apostle to be martyred.
As we celebrate the feast of St. James, it reminds us that no matter what our shortcomings or flaws are, but when we open our hearts to Christ, He can mold us into instruments of His grace.
In that transformative love of Christ, in that example of St. James, let us ask ourselves, as those who are baptized in Christ to be followers of him, how tempered or effective or transformed am I in my baptism of glory in life, in my baptism of pain and suffering in life, and in my baptism of love and humble service for one another in life?
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