A blessed feast of St. James to you all, a wonderful day also for a baptism. In our readings today we remember St. James, son of Zebedee and brother of St. John. This is not the James who wrote the book of James, but one of the three of Jesus’ closest “inner circle” of disciples with John and Peter. James was one of the three allowed to see the transfiguration, Jesus’ revelation of his glory before the resurrection. James was also one of the three allowed to see Jesus raise the little girl who had died. One would think that James would go on to do great things as an apostle, just like Peter and John who we hear so much about. Yet as we read in Acts, James is only mentioned by himself in order to let us know that he was killed. This one of the big three was the first apostle to be martyred.
