Daily Gospel for Friday, 25 July 2014

Daily Gospel for Friday, 25 July 2014
"Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”" (John 6:68-69)
Saint James, apostle - Feast 
Saints of the day:
SAINT JAMES THE GREATER
Apostle 
Feast
Among the twelve, three were chosen as the familiar companions of our blessed Lord, and of these James was one. He alone, with Peter and John, was admitted to the house of Jairus when the dead maiden was raised to life. They alone were taken up to the high mountain apart, and saw the face of Jesus shining as the sun, and His garments white as snow; and these three alone witnessed the fearful agony in Gethsemane.
What was it that won James a place among the favorite three? Faith, burning, impetuous, and outspoken, but which needed. purifying before the "Son of Thunder" could proclaim the gospel of peace. It was James who demanded fire from heaven to consume the inhospitable Samaritans, and who sought the place of honor by Christ in His Kingdom. Yet Our Lord, in rebuking his presumption, prophesied his faithfulness to death.
When St. James was brought before King Herod Agrippa, his fearless confession of Jesus crucified so moved the public prosecutor that he declared himself a Christian on the spot. Accused and accuser were hurried off together to execution, and on the road the latter begged pardon of the Saint. The apostle had long since forgiven him, but hesitated for a moment whether publicly to accept as a brother one still unbaptized. God quickly recalled to him the Church's faith that the blood of martyrdom supplies for every sacrament and, falling on his companion's neck, he embraced him, with the words, "Peace be with thee!"
Together then they knelt for the sword, and together received the crown.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894] 
Almighty Father, by the martyrdom of Saint James 
you blessed the work of the early Church. 

May his profession of faith give us courage and his prayers bring us strength.
Saint Christopher
Feastday: July 25
Death: 251
Before the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, Christopher was listed as a martyr who died under Decius. Nothing else is known about him. There are several legends about him including the one in which he was crossing a river when a child asked to be carried across. When Christopher put the child on his shoulders he found the child was unbelievably heavy. The child, according to the legend, was Christ carrying the weight of the whole world. This was what made Christopher patron saint of travelers and is invoked against storms, plagues, etc.. His former feast day is July 25.
Before the formal canonization process began in the fifteenth century, many saints were proclaimed by popular approval. This was a much faster process but unfortunately many of the saints so named were based on legends, pagan mythology, or even other religions -- for example, the story of the Buddha traveled west to Europe and he was "converted" into a Catholic saint! In 1969, the Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed and lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many "saints", including some very popular ones, ever lived. Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar.
Some saints were considered so legendary that their cult was completely repressed (including St. Ursula). Christopher's cult was not suppressed but it is confined to local calendars (those for a diocese, country, or so forth). His name Christopher, means Christ-bearer. He died a martyr during the reign of Decius in the third century.
Copyright 1996-2000 Terry Matz. All Rights Reserved.
Saint James, apostle - Feast
Second Letter to the Corinthians 4:7-12 If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!
13-15 We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!
Psalms 126: A Pilgrim Song
1-3 It seemed like a dream, too good to be true,
    when God returned Zion’s exiles.
We laughed, we sang,
    we couldn’t believe our good fortune.
We were the talk of the nations—
    “God was wonderful to them!”
God was wonderful to us;
    we are one happy people.
4-6 And now, God, do it again—
    bring rains to our drought-stricken lives
So those who planted their crops in despair
    will shout hurrahs at the harvest,
So those who went off with heavy hearts
    will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 20:20 It was about that time that the mother of the Zebedee brothers came with her two sons and knelt before Jesus with a request.
21 “What do you want?” Jesus asked.
She said, “Give your word that these two sons of mine will be awarded the highest places of honor in your kingdom, one at your right hand, one at your left hand.”
22 Jesus responded, “You have no idea what you’re asking.” And he said to James and John, “Are you capable of drinking the cup that I’m about to drink?”
They said, “Sure, why not?”
23 Jesus said, “Come to think of it, you are going to drink my cup. But as to awarding places of honor, that’s not my business. My Father is taking care of that.”
24-28 When the ten others heard about this, they lost their tempers, thoroughly disgusted with the two brothers. So Jesus got them together to settle things down. He said, “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”
Saint James, apostle - Feast
Commentary of the day:
Saint Basil (c.330-379), monk and Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Doctor of the Church 
Homily on Psalm 115[116B], §4 
"Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?"
What shall I repay the Lord ? 
(Ps 115[116B],12). Not holocausts or sacrifices or the observances of the legal cult, but my whole life itself. And this is why, says the psalmist, “The cup of salvation I will take up” (v.13). The labor he underwent in the struggles of his filial devotion to God and the constancy with which he resisted sin even to death: this is what the psalmist calls his cup. 
It was concerning this cup that our Lord himself expressed himself in the Gospels : “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Mt 26,39). And again, to his disciples: “Can you drink the cup that I shall drink?” He intended to speak of that death he desired to suffer for the salvation of the world. Therefore, he says: “The cup of salvation I will take up”, namely, my whole being is reaching out, parched, towards the consummation of martyrdom, even to the point of holding the torments endured in the struggles of filial love as rest, and not as suffering for soul and body. I too, he says, will offer myself to the Lord as a sacrifice and oblation… And I am ready to pay these vows before all the people, for “My vows to the Lord I will pay in the presence of all his people!” (v.14). 

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