25th July, 2015: Remembering St. James the Apostle
2 Cor 4: 7-15; Mt 20: 20-28
Today in talking about vocations to priesthood and their formation, they categorise the vocation into normal vocation, late vocation and so on! A normal vocation would mean a young boy having the aspirations of becoming a priest joins the Apostolic School and gets gradually initiated into the process and grows to be a candidate for this way of life. A late vocation would mean a youngster who has already strong convictions towards becoming a priest, after much thought and experience decides to join the process of preparation.
Looking at James and his brother John in the Gospel today, even we tend to be embarrassed at their ambitious spirit, just as the other 10 were upset! But Jesus is not upset. There is no sign of it though he should be the first to be upset about it. Looks like Jesus is considering them as normal vocations that have to gradually grow into perfection as opposed to a strong and convinced vocation like St. Paul who would discard everything else as rubbish when it comes to gaining Christ (cf. Phil 3:8).
But the beauty of St. James is in the fact that he grew, he grew in his understanding and came to the level of giving up his life for Christ: drinking the cup that He drank! The Lord does not expect us to be perfect but to be sincere, sincere in our efforts towards perfection!