Bulletins

July 21, 2013

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On July 25 the Church celebrates Saint James the Apostle, the son of Zebedee, the older brother of Saint John. He is the Saint James who is honored in Compostela, Spain. This year when we celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of St. John being established as a Mission of the Parish of St. James, the relationship of the two brother saints is especially important to us.

John introduced his brother to Our Lord. Both were fisherman with their father. After a few encounters with Jesus, they dropped their nets and became "fishers of men" (Matthew 4,22). The two of them, along with Saint Peter, frequently were taken aside by Our Lord: at the miraculous raising of the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5,37; Luke 8,51), at the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor (Mark 9,1; Matthew 17,1; Luke 9,28), and in the Garden of Gethsemani (Matthew 26,37; Mark 14,33). James and John were known collectively as "the sons of thunder" (Mark 3,17) and showed particular zeal in service of the Lord, forbidding a man to expel demons in the name of Christ although he was not one of the disciples (Luke 9,54), asking Our Lord to call down fire upon the Samaritans who refused to receive Christ (Luke 9,49) and requesting to be sat at His right and left in His glory (Mark 10,35-40) with their mother's encouragement (Matthew 20,20-22). The impetuous duo became saints and, in a stroke of humility, are not mentioned by name in Saint John's Gospel.

The Roman Martyrology, the official list of saints in the Catholic Church, also designates July 25 as the memorial for Saint Christopher among many others. Every day has multiple saints. In the traditional Mass it is possible to include prayers for several saints at the same Mass. As of 1970 in the current ordinary Mass, the proper prayers may pay honor only to one saint or a single group of saints, such as saints who were martyred together. On some days there are different saints from which to choose while on other days a saint of particular importance is required to be invoked at Mass. Consequently, July 25 is dedicated to Saint James as his Feast Day to the exclusion of mentioning any other saint in the prayers at Mass on that day. I shall be offering the traditional Mass this Thursday and mentioning both saints at the altar.

Saint James, pray for us!
Saint Christopher, pray for us!
All you holy martyrs, pray for us!

God bless you.

Fr. Christopher James Pollard