Salutations! How are you? Hope you’re doing well. Every year on this date of July 25
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we celebrate one of the twelve Apostles that Jesus handpicked to journey with him. This faithful and fervent disciple was one of the sons of Zebedee who was present at the Transfiguration and at the Agony in the Garden. At the end of his earthly life he became the first of the apostles that would be martyred in Jerusalem.
From heaven he has become the Patron Saint of Pilgrims, oyster fishermen, and the country of Spain. The nation of Chile named their capital, Santiago, after this Saint who is sometimes referred to as “The Greater.” (It is believed that he was ‘greater’ in the sense of being older than one of the other apostles who had the same first name as him.)
The Universal Church is grateful to the Lord that he chose this holy and zealous fisherman to follow after him and so become a fisher of men, women, and children for the Kingdom of God. On a personal note I am grateful for this saint, since my Dad and I share our first name with him.
Today with our brothers and sisters throughout the world, from those who are living in the Holy Land, or those on the famous Spanish pilgrimage of El Camino de Santiago de Compostela, or those who have the namesake of this remarkable fellow (even though the meaning of his name is not so flattering in that it is “The Usurper” or “The One who Takes the Place of Another”) or those of us who are part of the Mystical Body of Christ we declare with one prayerful voice:
St. James the Apostle, Pray for us!
