This James is the son of Alphaeus, not the son of Zebedee, nor Jesus'sibiling the first bishop of Jerusalem. We know of him only that he and his mother stood with other women to watch the crucifixion of Jesus from a distance. After long service he was arrested and sentenced at the Sanhedrin to death by stoning. After the sentence was pronounced, James began loudly to pray for the Sanhedrin. One, a fuller by trade, was angered by that and beat James with his fuller's club. So James' logo, if you will, is a club.
Our Philip is also an apostle, not to be confused with Philip the deacon who converted the Eunuch from Ethiopia. We encounter Philip briefly a few times. He brought Nathaniel to Jesus. He was asked by Jesus how he would feed the five thousand; ever practical, Philip calculated an amount exceeding 200 denarii, 200 days' wages. At the Last Supper, he asked Jesus to "show us the Father" and was remonstrated by Jesus who is said to assure him that "When you have seen me, you have seen the Father." Finally, Philip is presented with the other apostles and our Blessed Mother in the Upper Room at Pentecost. Philip's mission was preaching in Phrygia where he was crucified and from which his relics were translated to what became the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles. Philip's logo is either a cross or loaves.
These two martyrs remind me that most of us are not going to make it to the big leagues. We can bloom where we are planted, or as President Eisenhower used to counsel, "Play the ball where it lies." Our ministry is less about what we do and more about how we do what we do in a Christian fashion.
No comments:
Post a Comment