SPEAKER_00: When most people think of Saint James the Apostle, they think of one thing the Camino de Santiago.
SPEAKER_00: Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walk across northern Spain to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where the church has venerated his relics for centuries.
SPEAKER_00: Some walk for spiritual renewal, others for healing, some are searching for God, others are searching for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: But before Saint James became the patron saint of pilgrims, he first had to become a pilgrim of conversion.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you read the gospels carefully, James was not always the saint we imagine.
SPEAKER_00: He was ambitious, he was impulsive, he had a fiery temper.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus even gave him and his brother John a nickname Sons of Thunder.
SPEAKER_00: At one point they wanted to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village because it had rejected Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now that hardly sounds like a saint.
SPEAKER_00: But today's gospel we find another revealing moment.
SPEAKER_00: Their mother approaches Jesus with a bold request.
SPEAKER_00: Command that these two sons of mine sit one at your right and the other on your left in your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: She wants places of honor, she wants greatness, she wants influence for her sons.
SPEAKER_00: The other apostles become indignant, not because they are humble, but probably because they wanted those places for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: But notice what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_00: He does not condemn the desire for greatness.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he completely redefines it.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant.
SPEAKER_00: That sentence changed history.
SPEAKER_00: Before Christ, greatness was usually measured by power, by wealth, by military victories, by political influence.
SPEAKER_00: The more people served you, the greater you were.
SPEAKER_00: The greater you were considered.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus turns the entire world upside down.
SPEAKER_00: In his kingdom, greatness is measured by how many people, how many people you serve?
SPEAKER_00: The greatest person in the room is the one who loves the most.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest leader is the one willing to wash feet.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest disciples is the one willing to carry the cross.
SPEAKER_00: But then Jesus asks James a question that becomes the turning point of his life.
SPEAKER_00: Can you drink of the chalice that I'm about to give you?
SPEAKER_00: Can you drink from the chalice that I'm going to drink from?
SPEAKER_00: James answers immediately, we can.
SPEAKER_00: But I wonder if he understood what he was saying.
SPEAKER_00: The chalice Jesus speaks about is not first the Eucharistic chalice, it is the chalice of his passion, the chalice of suffering, the chalice of complete self-giving.
SPEAKER_00: James says yes before he understands the cost.
SPEAKER_00: Years later, after Pentecost, he would discover exactly what that yes required.
SPEAKER_00: According to the Acts of the Apostles, James becomes the first of the twelve apostles to be martyred.
SPEAKER_00: Around the year forty-four, King Herod, Agrippa, ordered him to be executed by the sword.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that transformation.
SPEAKER_00: The ambitious young man who once sought a throne became the apostle who willingly embraced the cross.
SPEAKER_00: The son of thunder became a faithful witness.
SPEAKER_00: The man who wanted glory discovered that true glory passes through sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the first reading is so beautiful today.
SPEAKER_00: Saint Paul writes, We hold these treasures in earthen vessels.
SPEAKER_00: What is the treasure?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's the life of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: What is the earthen vessel?
SPEAKER_00: We are.
SPEAKER_00: Us.
SPEAKER_00: We are fragile, we become sick, we grow tired, we experience fear, we carry wounds.
SPEAKER_00: Yet God deliberately chooses fragile people to carry his gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he says so that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.
SPEAKER_00: God has never waited for perfect people.
SPEAKER_00: He works through ordinary people who are willing to say yes over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: James was not chosen because he was already a saint.
SPEAKER_00: He became a saint because he kept allowing Christ to transform him.
SPEAKER_00: That should give every single one of us hope.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes we think our weaknesses disqualify us.
SPEAKER_00: I'm too impatient, I have failed too many times, I have far too great of weakness, I'm not holy enough, I don't know enough.
SPEAKER_00: Well, James would understand every one of those excuses.
SPEAKER_00: Yet Christ saw not only who James was, he saw who James could be, and he sees the same in all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that's why the Camino has captivated so many people.
SPEAKER_00: It's not simply a walk across Spain.
SPEAKER_00: It's a reminder that the Christian life itself is a pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_00: No one becomes holy overnight.
SPEAKER_00: We stumble, we get back up, we grow, we learn, we keep walking.
SPEAKER_00: James did not become a saint in a single moment.
SPEAKER_00: He became a saint by following Christ one faithful step at a time, until that final step led him to martyrdom.
SPEAKER_00: Today Jesus asked each one of us a very same question he asked James, can you drink the chalice that I'm going to drink from?
SPEAKER_00: Most of us, that will not mean shedding our blood.
SPEAKER_00: Will mean dying of selfishness, choosing to forgive over resentment, serving when no one notices, remaining faithful when life becomes difficult, loving when it costs us something.
SPEAKER_00: That's the chalice every Christian is asked to drink.
SPEAKER_00: And if we drink it with Christ, then one day we will also share in his resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: For the road to greatness has never changed.
SPEAKER_00: It is still the road that Saint James walked.
SPEAKER_00: It's the road of humble service.
SPEAKER_00: It's the road of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It's the road that, in the end, always leads to the glory of Easter.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.