FEAST
OF HOLY APOSTLES
SS.
PHILIP AND JAMES
St. Philip, Apostle
Philip was one of the first
chosen Disciples of Christ. On the way from Judea to Galilee Our Lord found
Philip, and said, “Follow Me.” Philip straightway obeyed; and then in his zeal
and charity sought to win Nathaniel also, saying, “We have found Him of Whom
Moses and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth” and when Nathaniel in
wonder asked, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” Philip simply answered,
“Come and see,” and brought him to Jesus. Another characteristic saying of this
apostle is preserved for us by St. John. Christ in His last discourse had
spoken of His Father; and Philip exclaimed, in the fervor of his thirst for
God, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough.”
St.
James the Less
St. James the Less, the author
of an inspired epistle, was also one of the Twelve. St. Paul tells us that he
was favored by a special apparition of Christ after the Resurrection. On the
dispersion of the apostles among the nations, St. James was left as Bishop of
Jerusalem; and even the Jews held in such high veneration his purity,
mortification, and prayer, that they named him the Just. The earliest of Church
historians has handed down many traditions of St. James’s sanctity. He was
always a virgin, says Hegesippus, and consecrated to God. He drank no wine,
wore no sandals on his feet, and but a single garment on his body. He
prostrated himself so much in prayer that the skin of his knees was hardened
like a camel’s hoof. The Jews, it is said, used out of respect to touch the hem
of his garment. He was indeed a living proof of his own words, “The wisdom that
is from above first indeed is chaste, then peaceable, modest, full of mercy and
good fruits.” He sat beside St. Peter and St. Paul at the Council of Jerusalem;
and when St. Paul at a later time escaped the fury of the Jews by appealing to
Caesar, the people took vengeance on James, and crying, “The just one hath
erred,” stoned him to death.
ST. PHILIP AND ST. JAMES THE LESS,
APOSTLES
The Liturgical Year – Ven. Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.
Two of the favoured witnesses of our beloved Jesus’ Resurrection come
before us on this first day of May. Philip and James are here, bearing
testimony to us, that their Master is truly risen from the dead, that they have
seen him, that they have touched him, that they have conversed with him, during
these forty days. And, that we may have no doubt as to the truth of their
testimony, they hold in their hands the instruments of the martyrdom they
underwent for asserting that Jesus, after having suffered death, came to life
again and rose from the grave. Philip is leaning upon the cross to which he was
fastened, as Jesus had been; James is holding the club where with he was struck
dead.
Philip preached the Gospel in
the two Phrygias, and his martyrdom took place at Hierapolis. He was married
when he was called by our Savior; and we learn from writers of the second
century, that he had three daughters, remarkable for their great piety, one of
whom lived at Ephesus, where she was justly revered as one of the glories of
that early Church.
James is better known than
Philip. He is called, in the sacred Scripture, Brother of the Lord, on account
of the close relationship that existed between his own mother and the Blessed
Mother of Jesus. He claims our veneration, during Paschal Time, in as much as
he was favoured with a special visit from our Risen Lord, as we learn from St.
Paul. There can be no doubt, but what he had done something to deserve this
mark of Jesus’ predilection. St. Jerome and St. Epiphanius tell us, that our
Savior, when ascending into heaven, recommended to St. James’ care the Church
of Jerusalem, and that he was accordingly appointed the first Bishop of that
City. The Christians of Jerusalem, in the 4th Century, had possession of the
Chair on which St. James used to sit, when he assisted at the assemblies of the
Faithful. St. Epiphanius also tells us, that the holy Apostle used to wear a
lamina of gold upon his fore head, as the badge of his dignity. His garment was
a tunic made of linen.
He was held in such high
repute for virtue, that the people of Jerusalem called him” The Just” and when
the time of the Siege came, instead of attributing the frightful punishment,
they then endured, to the deicide they or their fathers had committed, they
would have it to be a consequence of the murder of James, who, when dying,
prayed for his people. The admirable Epistle he has left us bears testimony to
the gentleness and uprightness of his character. He there teaches us, with an
eloquence of an inspired writer, that works must go along with our Faith, if we
would be Just with that Justice, which makes us like our Risen Lord.
The bodies of Saints Philip
and James repose in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, at Rome. These Relics
are counted as one of the richest treasures of the Holy City, and there is
reason to believe that this first of May is the real anniversary of their
Translation. For a long period, the Church of Rome kept special Feasts in
honour of four only of the Apostles: Ss. Peter and Paul, St. John the
Evangelist, and St. Andrew (Peter’s Brother): the rest were united in the
solemnity of the 29th of June, and a vestige of this is still to be found in
the Office of that Day, as we shall see later on. The reception of the Bodies
of SS. Philip and James, which were brought from the East, somewhere about the
6th Century, gave rise to the institution of today’s Feast; and this led
gradually to the insertion into the Calendar of the special Feasts for the other
Apostles and Evangelists.
FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
Yet four days, and our Risen Jesus, whose company has been so dear and
precious to us, will have disappeared from the earth. This fifth Sunday after
Easter seems to prepare us for the separation. In a week's time, we shall begin
the long series of Sundays which are to pass before he returns to judge the
world. This is a grief to the Christian; for he knows that he will not see his
Savior until after this life, and he feels something of the sorrow the Apostles
had at the Last Supper, when Jesus said to them: Yet a little while, and ye
shall not see me.
But, after his Resurrection,
what must not these privileged men have felt, when they perceived, as we do,
that this beloved Master was soon to leave them? They had, so to speak, been
living with Jesus glorified; they had experienced the effects of his divine
condescension and intimacy; they had received from his lips every instruction
they needed for the fulfilling his will, that is, for the founding, on earth,
the Church he had chosen as his Spouse. These happy forty days are fast drawing
to a close. The Apostles will then be deprived of Jesus' visible presence, even
to the end of their lives.
We, too, shall feel something
of their sadness, if we have kept ourselves united to our holy mother the
Church. From the very first day, when she recommenced, for our sakes, the
Ecclesiastical Year, during which all the Mysteries of our Redemption, from the
Birth of our Emmanuel even to his triumphant Ascension into heaven, were to be
celebrated, — have not we, also, been living in company with her Jesus, our
Redeemer ? And now that he is about to close the sweet intercourse which these
Seasons and Feasts have kept up between himself and us, are not our feelings very
much like those of the Apostles?
But there is one creature on
earth, whom Jesus is leaving, and whose feelings, at the approaching
separation, we cannot attempt to describe. Never had there been a heart so
submissive to the will of her Creator; but, at the same time, there never was
any Creature so severely tried as she had been. Jesus would have his Mother's
love still increase; he therefore subjects her to the separation from himself.
Moreover, he wishes her to co-operate in the formation of the Church, for he
has decreed that the great work shall not be achieved without her. In all this,
Jesus shows how tenderly he loves his Blessed Mother: he wishes her merit to be
so great, that he may justly give her the brightest possible crown, when the
day of her own Ascension into heaven comes.
The heart of this
incomparable Queen is not, indeed, to be again transfixed with a sword of
sorrow it is to be consumed by a love so intense that no language could
describe it. Under the sweet, yet wearing, fire of this love, Mary is at length
to give way, just as fruit falls from the tree, when its ripeness is complete,
and the tree has nothing more to give it. But, during these last hours of
Jesus' presence, what must not such a Mother have felt, who has had but forty days
to enjoy the sight and the caresses of her glorified and divine Son? It is
Mary's last trial and when her Jesus tells her of his wish that she should
remain in exile, she is ready with her favorite answer: Behold the Handmaid of
the Lord! Be it done to me according to thy Word! Her whole life has been spent
in doing God's will; it was this that made her so great in his eyes, and so
dear to his heart. A holy servant of God, who lived in the 17th century, and
was favored with the most sublime revelations, tells us, that it was left to
Mary's choice, either to accompany her divine Son to heaven, or to remain some
years longer upon the earth to assist the infant Church; and that she chose to
defer her entrance into eternal bliss, in order to labor, as long as it was
God's good pleasure, in the great work which was so closely connected with the
glory of her Son, and so essential to the salvation of us her adopted children.
If this generous devotedness
raised the co-operatrix of our salvation to the highest degree of sanctity, by
giving completeness to her mission on earth,—we may be sure that Jesus' love
for his Mother was increased by the new proof she thus gave him of her
uniformity with every wish of his sacred Heart. He repaid her, as he well knew
how to do, for this heroic self-sacrifice, this prompt submission to his having
designed her to be, here on earth, as the Church calls her, Queen of the
Apostles, and a sharer in their labours of planting the Church.
During these, his last few
hours on earth, our Lord's affection for his Apostles and Disciples seemed to
be redoubled. For several of them, the separation was to be a long one. The
Beloved Disciple, John, was not to enjoy the company of his divine Master till
more than fifty years had elapsed. It was to be thirty before the Cross would
carry Peter to Him who had entrusted to his keeping the Keys of the Kingdom of
Heaven. Magdalene, the fervent Magdalene, would have to wait the same length of
time. But no one murmured at the divine appointment; they all felt how just it
was, that Jesus, now that he had so fully established the faith of his
Resurrection, should enter into his glory.
On the very day of his
Resurrection, our Saviour bade the Disciples go into Galilee, for that there he
would meet them. As we have already seen, they obeyed the order, and seven
among them were favored by Jesus' appearing to them on the banks of the Lake
Genesareth: it is the eighth of the manifestations mentioned in the Gospel. The
ninth, also, took place in Galilee. Our Lord loved Galilee: it gave him the
greater number of his Disciples, it was Mary and Joseph's country, and it was
there that he himself passed so many years of his hidden life. Its people were
simpler and better than those of Judea,—and this was another attraction. St.
Matthew tells us, that the most public of all Jesus' manifestations, after his
Resurrection, — the tenth in reality, and the ninth mentioned by the
Evangelists,—took place on a hill in this same district.
According to St.
Bonaventure, and the learned and pious Denis the Carthusian, this hill was
Mount Tabor,—the same that was honored by the mystery of the Transfiguration.
Upwards of five hundred of Jesus' Disciples were assembled there, as we learn
from St. Paul: they were mostly inhabitants of Galilee, had believed in our
Lord during his three years' public life, and merited to be witnesses of this
new triumph of the Nazarene. Jesus showed himself to them, and gave them such
certitude with regard to his resurrection, that the Apostle appeals to their
testimony in support of this fundamental mystery of our Faith.
Further than this, we know of
no other manifestations made by our Saviour after his Resurrection. We know
that he gave order to his Disciples to repair to Jerusalem, where they were to
see him once more before his Ascension. Let us, during these few days, follow
the Disciples to Jerusalem. Faithless city! how often has not Jesus sought to
gather together her children, as the hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings,—and she would not! He is about to re-enter her walls; but she is not to
know it. He will not show himself to her, but only to those that love him; and
after this he will depart in silence, never to return until he comes to judge
them that have not known the time of their visitation.
Mass
Ss. Philip and James, Apostles
Commemoration for the
Fifth
Sunday after Easter
Double of the II Class
Red vestments
Missa 'Clamaverunt Ad Te'
INTROIT - II
Esdras 9: 27
Clamaverunt ad te, Dómine, in témpore afflictiónis suæ, et tu de cœlo
exaudísti eos. Allelúia, allelúia. Ps. 32: 1 Exsultá te, justi, in Dómino:
rectos decet collaudátio. Gloria Patri.
In the time of their tribulation they cried to Thee O Lord, and Thou
heardest them from heaven. Alleluia, alleluia. Ps. Rejoice in the Lord, ye
just: praise becometh the upright. Glory be to the Father.
COLLECT
O God, Who dost gladden us with the annual solemnity of Thine apostles,
Philip and James, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may learn from the examples
of those in whose merits we rejoice. Through the same Lord.
Fifth Sunday
after Easter
O God, from whom all good things do proceed, grant unto Thy humble
servants, that by Thy holy inspiration, we may think those things that are
right, and under Thy guidance may perform the same. Through our Lord.
St. James the Less
EPISTLE
Lesson from the Book of Wisdom
Wisdom 5: 1-5
Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have
afflicted them and taken away their labors. These seeing it, shall be troubled
with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected
salvation, saying within themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of
spirit: These are they whom we had some time in derision and for a parable of
reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness and their end without honor;
behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among
the Saints.
PASCHAL
ALLELUIA - Psalm 88: 6
Alleluia, alleluia. The heavens shall confess Thy wonders, O Lord; and
Thy truth in the Church of the saints.
ALLELUIA -
John 14: 9
Alleluia. So long a time have I been with you, and have you not known
Me? Philip, he that seeth me, seeth My Father also. Alleluia.
Crucifixion of St. Philip -
GOSPEL
Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. John
John 14:1-13
At that time Jesus said to His disciples: Let not your heart be
troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house there
are many mansions. If not, I would have told you, that I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
will take you to Myself, that where I am you also may be. And whither I go you
know, and the way you know. Thomas saith to Him, Lord, we know not whither Thou
goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith to him, I am the way, and the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me. If you had known
Me, you would without doubt have known My Father also: and from henceforth you
shall know Him; and you have seen Him. Philip saith to Him: Lord, show us the
Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus saith to him: So long a time have I been
with you, and have you not known Me? Philip, he that seeth Me, seeth the Father
also. How sayest thou, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the
Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of
Myself. But the Father Who abideth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe you not
that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Otherwise, believe for the very
works' sake. Amen, amen, I say to you, he that believeth in Me, the works that
I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do. Because I go to the
Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, that will I do.
OFFERTORY – Psalm
88: 6
The Heavens shall confess Thy wonders, O Lord, and Thy truth in the
church of the saints. Alleluia, alleluia.
SECRET
Graciously receive O Lord, the offerings which we bring for the feast of
Thine Apostles Philip and James, and turn aside all the evils which we deserve.
Through our Lord.
Secret
prayer for Fifth Sunday after Easter
Receive, O Lord, the prayers and sacrifices of the faithful, that by
these offices of loving devotion we may attain to heavenly glory. Through our
Lord.
PREFACE OF
THE APOSTLES
It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, to entreat Thee
humbly, O Lord, that Thou wouldst not desert Thy flock, O everlasting Shepherd;
but through Thy blessed Apostles, wouldst keep it under Thy constant
protection; that it may be governed by those same rulers, whom as vicars of Thy
work, Thou didst set over it to be its pastors. And therefore with Angels and
Archangels, with Thrones and Dominations, and with all the hosts of the
heavenly army, we sing the hymn of Thy glory, evermore saying.
THE SANCTUS
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dóminus Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et
terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini.
Hosánna in excélsis.
The Holy Trinity by Hendrick
van Balen
COMMUNION –
John 14: 9-10
So long a time have I been with you, and have you not known Me? Philip,
he that seeth Me; seeth My Father also, alleluia. Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in Me? Alleluia, alleluia.
POSTCOMMUNION
Filled with the mysteries of salvation, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that we
may be assisted by the prayers of those whose feast we celebrate. Through the
Lord.
Fifth Sunday
after Easter
Grant us, O Lord, who have been nourished and strengthened at the
heavenly table, both to desire that which is right, and to gain that which we
desire. Through our Lord.
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