Fr Peter Helman

"Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’
And immediately they left their nets and followed him." (Mark 1:17-18)

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Dear friend,

How familiar are you with the Camino de Santiago, or the Way of Saint James? Perhaps you’ve walked a part of it or, like me, dream of walking it someday. If this is your first time hearing of the Camino, it is a large network of Medieval pilgrim routes that wind across Europe to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the Northwest of Spain, where Tradition says the body of Saint James the Apostle were buried and discovered in the 9thcentury by a shepherd.

On July 25th, the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint James the Apostle, yet the Feast fell on a Sunday this year, so it was transferred to today.

You’ll remember James from the New Testament for his zeal. James and his brother John were among the first disciples Jesus called to follow. Jesus found them by the Sea of Galilee mending their fishing nets in their boat. Something compelled them to get up and follow, leaving behind their father Zebedee and the only life they knew. Among the twelve Apostles, James and his brother John and their fellow disciple Peter were closest to Jesus. They witnessed things the other disciples did not. They alone were present at Christ's Transfiguration, when a voice spoke from a luminous cloud declaring Jesus God's beloved son. They were present too when Jesus raised from the dead the young daughter of Jairus, a leader of the synagogue in Capernaum. They were there when he healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and there too for Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his betrayal.

Very little is known of James' life after Pentecost, except that Tradition holds he traveled from Jerusalem to the Iberian Peninsula to evangelize the people of Spain. His missions there were brief and largely unsuccessful. He converted a handful of disciples, two of whom, Theodore and Athanasius, accompanied James back to Judea in the year 44 CE, where he was martyred by order of King Herod Agrippa. Theodore and Athanasius stole his body and climbing into a rudderless boat with no sail begged God to pilot their voyage. At last, the boat drifted to the shore of northern Spain, where they eventually buried James in a tomb on the westernmost coast.

James is known as the first martyr of the church and the patron saint of pilgrims, so it is right and good that we bid his prayers today that God will give us courage and strength to walk the road ahead, wherever God leads us.

Peace to you today~
Fr. Peter

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Saint James, Apostle
chosen among the first,
you were the first to drink
the cup of the master,
and you are the great protector of pilgrims;
make us strong in the faith
and happy in hope
on our pilgrims' journey
following the path of Christian life
and feed us so that
we may finally reach the glory
of God the Father.
Amen.