FEAST OF SAINTS PHILIP AND JAMES, APOSTLES

1 Cor. 15 : 1 – 8 / Ps. 18 : 1 – 7 / Jn. 10 : 22 – 30

St. Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians shares the testimony of faith he delivered to the faithful in the city of Corinth, reminding them all to pass on the truth, knowledge and the wisdom of God’s truth which they had received from the hands of the Apostles and the other missionaries.

St. Paul himself did not witness everything that had happened but he received the same truth from the hands of the other Apostles and also through the wisdom and inspiration from the Holy Spirit.

Friends in Christ, the Apostles have been called and chosen to bring the Good News of the Lord to the nations, and in the case of St. Paul, while he himself never journeyed together with the Lord and His group, and in fact was an ardent and overzealous persecutor of Christians in his early moments, but this did not prevent the Lord from calling him and making him to be one of His greatest missionaries.

The call of St. Paul and his testimony to the faith he delivered is our call too and like the saying goes, “the Lord does not call the qualified, the Lord qualifies the called”.

The two Apostles whom we celebrate today Sts. Philip and James bore witness to the faith by dying a Martyrs death for the sake of the faith. They suffered and were persecuted, but they placed their confidence in God and now they rejoice in heaven. We too must have confidence in God and not be troubled in our adversities.

In today’s gospel reading, Philip makes a request of Jesus, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied’. He recognizes in that request that only God can satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart. We will never be fully satisfied until we see God.

It is clear that he was only at the beginning of his own faith journey; he had only begun to see. He had a great deal more to learn from Jesus.

Dear friends, Philip reminds us that we don’t have to know it all to be effective witnesses for the Lord. We are called to share the Lord with each other while we are still on the way. As we see Jesus with the eyes of faith, we will hear his call to keep on taking him as our way, our truth and our life.

Let us therefore, all turn towards the Lord faithfully and dedicate ourselves to Him thoroughly, doing our very best to be faithful missionaries and evangelizers of our Christian faith, not just through mere words only, but also through genuine actions and works, in doing God’s will and obeying His Law and commandments, becoming true shining beacons of the Light of Christ in the midst of our community.

Rosary Prayer: Glorious Mysteries

Mass intentions: Praying for the intentions of Chiduruo Okpala, Amarachi Ann, Linus Nneji, Nwosu Osondu Martins and Akii Daniel.