Feast of St.

Philip and James

Introduction
Dear friends in the Lord, good morning. Im glad to be here again and to
celebrate the Eucharist together with you all. Ive been in Tarutung, North
Sumatra during the Holy Week to help Fr. Tarno the parish priest of
Tarutung to preside masses in some stations in the surrounding of
Tarutung. It was for me non only an exciting experience but first and
foremost it was an enriching experience. To meet people of simple faith is
to experience of being strengthened in my own faith and vocation as priest
in the Society of Jesus. Grateful for that experience.
Today, together with the whole Church we celebrate the feast of St. Philip
and James, apostle. We know very little about them, but apparently after
the Easter experience both of them dedicated their life to proclaiming the
good news until the end of their life. Even St. James was martyred in
Jerusalem.
Let us prepare ourselves to celebrate this Eucharist by humbly
acknowledging our failure and shortcomings in responding to Gods
infinite love.

Homily
As I said at the beginning of this mass, we know very little about the
apostles James and Philip. In the first reading Paul mentions Philip as one
among many disciples to whom Jesus appears personally after the
resurrection. Apart from his name we hardly have any information about
Him. He is not James the son of Zebedee and the brother of Andrew, but
rather James the son of Alpheus. Remember that there are two James in
the group of the twelve. One is James the son of Zebedee who is later
known as the bishop of Jerusalem and the author of the Letter of James;
he is known also as James the Greater. The other one is James son of
Alpheus whose feast we celebrate today; his name is only mentioned in the
list of the twelve apostles; he is known as James the Lesser.
He is less known that James the Greater. He did not enjoy a fame like
James the Greater. However I believe that it doesnt mean James the son
of Alpheus did not do anything great and meaningful for the baby Church.
Like in a movie, James the Lesser did not play as the main character or the
protagonist. Perhaps he plays a minor role or even a hidden role, yet such
kind of role is indispensable for the beauty of the whole film. The action
of the protagonist would be ridiculous without the presence of some other
minor characters. We can learn from James the Lesser not to be easily
discourage if we dont enjoy as much fame as our friends or the other
Jesuits. Indeed some Jesuits are famous like celebrities. Well, that all right
insofar as such fame is a fruit of sincere and hard work in his apostolate.
After all, what count the most is not the fame but the faithfulness and
dedication to the mission entrusted to us by God through the Society.
On Philip the situation is slightly better because weve got some
information from the gospel of John, although still that is very limited. We
know from the gospel of John that the same as Andrew, Peter, and
Nathanael or Bartholomew, he is also from Bethsaida in Galilee. Philip is
the one who said to Nathanael: Come, Ive found the one about him

Moses wrote. And today we heard, after Thomas complained that they
did not know where Jesus was going, Jesus said, I am the way, the life
and the truth...If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From
now on you do know him and have seen him (John 14:6a, 7). Apparently
Philip is an honest person but rather slow in thinking and understanding.
Jesus have just said: Whoever knows me, he knows also the Father. But
only one second after Jesus closed his mouth, Philip said to Jesus,
Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us (John 14:8).
Probably in his mind Jesus desperately said to himself Oh, what an idiot!
Ive just said that whoever knows me, knows the Father, and now you
asked Me: show me the Father?!. Nevertheless, Jesus is patient enough
with Philip and therefore he said Have I been with you for so long a time
and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the
Father (John 14:9a).
Perhaps Philip is not a brilliant apostle. He is very slow in understanding.
It takes a long time for him to realize who Jesus really is. Despite all this,
Philip is an honest person who doesnt hesitate or shy to ask questions
where he doesnt know. Jesus has called a person like Philip to be one of
his apostle. We can ask ourselves How long have we been following
Jesus? Do we really know who is Jesus for me?. Probably we are not in
better condition than Philip. However there is no need to feel discourage.
Jesus does not chose only brilliant persons to be his collaborators, but also
normal person like Philip. Even a normal person who takes a long time to
know Jesus can be a great apostle, a foundation stone of the Church like
Philip. What we need is to be honest, humble and willing to listen to Him
who calls us to follow His footsteps and to labour tirelessly with Him in
His vineyard for the greater glory of His name. The life story of Philip
shows us that to be great apostles God counts more on our willingness
rather than on the human perfection.