Sts. Philip & James

One of the graces of being a student in Rome is the opportunity to get to know the saints more closely – to walk where they walked and to pray at their tombs. In particular, Rome is a place to encounter the early martyrs of the Church whose witness to the truth and beauty of what they had encountered in Jesus Christ even to the shedding of their blood gives us the courage to not only believe in Jesus, but to bear our own witness to him in our own time, despite whatever fears might hold us back. "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church," as the Church Father Tertullian so artfully put it. Their witness (in Greek, μαρτυρια, martyria, martyrdom) becomes the seed that bears fruit in inspiring the conversion and witness of the Faithful down through the ages.

Today is the Feast of Sts. Philip and James the Lesser, two of the Apostles, brutally martyred for their profession of faith in Christ, who are buried in a church that is literally right around the corner from my residence. Their feast has been celebrated together in May since 1570, when their relics were brought to this church and placed under the main altar. They're still down there! And today I had the honor of celebrating Mass over their tomb with two Milwaukee seminarians studying here in Rome, some other pilgrims who joined us as we began Mass, and one of Milwaukee's transitional deacons, Nathan Miniatt, who will be ordained a priest in Milwaukee on May 17.

In today's Gospel, we recall Philip's eager exhortation to Christ, when he says, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus responds, "Whoever has seen me, Philip, has seen the Father also." In our own time, it may seem like, "If only I too could see the tombs of these Apostles, that would be enough for me to then believe more whole-heartedly." But as the tombs serve to point us to the Apostles, so the Apostles serve to point us to Christ, who in turn points us to the Father. In fact, the gift we have in the Eucharist is our greatest point of encounter with the Father, because it is our greatest point of encounter with Jesus, who makes himself present in this way in every Catholic parish and chapel around the world! In the Eucharist, we see Jesus, risen from the dead and poured out as a living sacrifice given to feed and strengthen us in our faith and bold witness. This is the love the Father has for us.

Let us ask the intercession today of Sts. Philip and James, that we might have their same courage and faith in following Christ and believing in the Father's love for us and for the whole world.