| The brother of the Apostle John, James is one of
the three disciples that was privileged to be present at the most
significant events in Jesus' ministry On Wednesday, 21 June, at the General Audience held in St. Peter's
Square, the Holy Father, continuing his portraits of the Apostles,
reflected on St. James the Greater, whose famous Shrine at Santiago de
Compostela is still honoured as a pilgrimage destination. St. James, the
Pope said, was one of the three "privileged disciples" who Jesus allowed
to witness important events in his life, including his Agony in the Garden
of Gethsemane and his Transfiguration. The following is a translation of
the Holy Father's Catechesis, which was given in Italian.
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
We are continuing the series of portraits of the Apostles chosen
directly by Jesus during his earthly life. We have spoken of St. Peter and
of his brother, Andrew. Today we meet the figure of James. The biblical
lists of the Twelve mention two people with this name: James, son of
Zebedee, and James, son of Alphaeus (cf. Mk 3:17-18; Mt 10:2-3), who are
commonly distinguished with the nicknames "James the Greater" and "James
the Lesser".
These titles are certainly not intended to measure their holiness, but
simply to state the different importance they receive in the writings of
the New Testament and, in particular, in the setting of Jesus' earthly
life. Today we will focus our attention on the first of these two figures
with the same name.
The name "James" is the translation of Iakobos, the Graecised
form of the name of the famous Patriarch, Jacob. The Apostle of this name
was the brother of John and in the above-mentioned lists, comes second,
immediately after Peter, as occurs in Mark (3:17); or in the third place,
after Peter and Andrew as in the Gospels of Matthew (10:2) and Luke
(6:14), while in the Acts he comes after Peter and John (1:13). This James
belongs, together with Peter and John, to the group of the three
privileged disciples whom Jesus admitted to important moments in his life.
Witness of Jesus' Passion and glory
Since it is very hot today, I want to be brief and to mention here only two of these occasions. James was
able to take part, together with Peter and John, in Jesus' Agony in the
Garden of Gethsemane and in the event of Jesus' Transfiguration. Thus,
it is a question of situations very different from each other: in one
case, James, together with the other two Apostles, experiences the Lord's
glory and sees him talking to Moses and Elijah, he sees the divine splendour shining out in Jesus.
On the other occasion, he finds himself face to face with suffering
and humiliation, he sees with his own eyes how the Son of God humbles
himself, making himself obedient unto death. The latter experience was
certainly an opportunity for him to grow in faith, to adjust the
unilateral, truimphalist interpretation of the former experience: he had
to discern that the Messiah, whom the Jewish people were awaiting as a
victor, was in fact not only surrounded by honour and glory, but also by
suffering weakness. Christ's glory was fulfilled precisely on the Cross,
in his sharing in our sufferings.
This growth in faith was brought to completion by the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost, so that James, when the moment of supreme witness came, would
not draw back. Early in the first century, in the. 40s, King Herod
Agrippa, the grand-son of Herod the Great, as Luke tells us, "laid violent
hands upon some who belonged to the Church. He had James, the brother of John, killed by
the sword" (Acts 12:1-2).
The brevity of the news, devoid of any narrative detail, reveals on the
one hand how normal it was for Christians to witness to the Lord with
their own lives, and on the other, that James had a position of relevance
in the Church of Jerusalem, partly because of the role he played during
Jesus' earthly existence.
A later tradition, dating hack at least to Isidore of Seville, speaks
of a visit he made to Spain to evangelize that important region of the
Roman Empire. According to another tradition, it was his body instead that
had been taken to Spain, to the city of Santiago de Compostela.
As we all know, that place became the object of great veneration and
is still the destination of numerous pilgrimages, not only from Europe but
horn the whole world. This explains the iconographical representation of
St. James with the pilgrim's staff and the scroll of the Gospel in hand,
typical features of the travelling Apostle dedicated to the proclamation
of the "Good News" and characteristics of the pilgrimage of Christian
life.
What St. James teaches us
Consequently, we, can learn much from St. James: promptness in
accepting, the Lord's call even when he asks us to leave the "boat" of our
human securities, enthusiasm in following him on the paths that he
indicates to us over and above any deceptive presumption of our own,
readiness to witness to him with courage, if necessary to the point of
making the supreme sacrifice of life.
Thus James the Greater stands before us as an eloquent example of
generous adherence to Christ. He, who initially had requested, through
his mother, to be seated with his brother next to the Master in his Kingdom, was precisely the first to drink the chalice of
the passion and to share martyrdom with the Apostles.
And, in the end, summarizing everything, we can say that the journey,
not only exterior but above all interior, from the mount of the
Transfiguration to the mount of the Agony, symbolizes the entire
pilgrimage of Christian life, among the persecutions of the world and the
consolations of God, as the Second Vatican Council says, in following
Jesus, like St. James, we know that even in difficulties we are on the
right path.
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