Today the Church honors two of the Twelve, Saints Philip and James. We keep a feast today as we thank the Lord for the witness of these two. St. Philip bears a Greek name and is approached by some Greek men in the Gospel of St. John. Tradition states that because of his obvious knowledge of the Greek language, he was sent to Greece where he preached the Gospel follow the resurrection of Jesus. He was martyred there after he converted the wife of the proconsul to Christianity. There are two separate traditions regarding his martyrdom. Some report that he, like Peter, was crucified upside down. Others report that he was beheaded. In 2011, archeologists reported that they had found his tomb in Hierapolis.
St. James is one of two apostles that bears that name. To distinguish one from the other, the saint we honor today is also called St. James the Less, St. James the Just, St. James – brother of the Lord, and also St. James, the son of Alphaeus. He was a brother of the Apostle John. James was chosen to be the first bishop of Jerusalem and the leader of the Christian community there. His virtue and lifestyle earned him the title "the Just." He was martyred in Jerusalem by stoning.
The Gospels relate several stories about these two apostles. Perhaps the most familiar is the story of the feeding of the 5,000. It is Philip who brings Jesus the boy with five loaves and two fish and remarks that it would have been impossible to feed so many with so little. Jesus proceeds to teach Philip and all who are with him about the abundance of God's love by sharing what little they had with the crowd.
These two men stand as examples of God's magnificent plan of Salvation. By spreading the word of God to the whole of the then-known world, they stand as examples of allowing God to use our gifts to build His Kingdom.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator