Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Today's Mass Readings
Today we celebrate the feast of two apostles, Philip and James. What is interesting and instructive about the celebration of these two is that we know very little about them. Why is that instructive? Well, these two are celebrated as saints in the Church precisely because of their association with Jesus, because Jesus called them. It is nothing that they did charismatically. In fact, the one story we have about either of these two is illustrated in today’s gospel – Philip being rather incredulous! (Jn 14:8). We come to think that saints, let alone the apostles, are often those incredibly charismatic people who can do things that seem impossible for us. Yet, the Church knows enough about Philip and James through the tradition to call them saints. They were apostles; they were sent on a mission by Christ to spread the gospel and they responded. It is tradition to which St. Paul refers in today’s first reading. He reminds the Corinthians of a kind of creed that he passed on and had received himself. The story here of Christ’s death for us and the resurrection appearances is both received and developed by Paul. Jesus’ appearance to Paul makes sense because Paul knows that Jesus “appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the Twelve…” (1 Cor 15:5). Paul understands Christ’s appearance to Him in the context of the tradition. This is the way that tradition works in the Church. In the words of Dei Verbum, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on Revelation, tradition is both “received” from the Apostles and “developing” in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit (sec. VIII). When the Church talks about tradition, it is not akin to eating turkey on Thanksgiving – a practice that has simply always been done. It is rather the way that the Church continues to understand itself in each new age, with reference to what has gone before.
Like Paul understanding Christ’s appearance in the context of the resurrection appearances that had been passed down to him, let us, on this feast of Sts. Philip and James, understand ourselves in the communion of saints. What is it that Jesus is calling us to do? How are we to follow Him? Our lives should make sense within the story of those Christians who have gone before us. Philip and James are honored because they were called and then sent by Jesus to spread the gospel. How will I exude the “good news” of Christ’s death and resurrection on this day?
- Tim Gabrielli