Today we celebrate the feast of St. James the Apostle. He was one of the sons of Zebedee, a fisherman by trade, who gave up all he had to follow the Lord Jesus and was the first to sacrifice his life for the Lord Jesus. He would have been a simple, ordinary person, but we remember him even after 2000 years. No matter how simple James might have been, his encounter with the Lord made him an ardent disciple. In the Gospels we hear how James craved for power and position early in his life but learnt the value of humility and servant leadership from the Lord and experienced a true transformation over time. St. James offers us, who are trapped in our own fragile nature, a renewed sense of hope. He bears witness to our powerlessness in attempting to do God’s will. We may be ordinary but through our relationship with the Lord we are made extraordinary, and we are called to embrace this truth and experience the transforming grace of God.

PRAYER: Abba Father, fill us anew with your presence so that we may walk firmly in your ways. Amen.