Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (14: 6-14) in which Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Afterwards, Fr Paul shares a little about Saints Philip and James whose memorials we celebrate today.

Fr Paul says Philip was born at Bethsaida and started as a disciple of John the Baptist. After John the Baptist’s death he then followed Christ.

James the son of Alphaeus is called ‘James the Less’, to distinguish him from James the son of Zebedee. James ‘the brother of the Lord’ ruled the Church at Jerusalem; wrote an epistle; led an austere life; and converted many Jews to the Faith. He was crowned with martyrdom in the year 62.

Jerome held these two Jameses to be the same person, and this was certainly the prevailing opinion when the feast of Philip and James was instituted in 560. Nowadays scholars prefer to divide them, in which case, we might think of today as being the feast of Philip and James and James.

So today, in the tradition of our Church, Fr Paul invites us to ask… St Philip & St James… pray for us!