Celebrating the feast of Philip and James

Today we celebrate the feast of the Apostles Philip and James. The feasts of the Apostles are always special as we remember how they knew Jesus personally and accompanied him in his mission for several years. They were the foundational members of the first communities and all of them except John were martyred for their faith in Jesus. There are two Philips in the New Testament. The first is the apostle in today's gospel from John 14:6-14 who asks Jesus to let them see the Father. He is the approachable apostle to whom some Greeks came to when the wanted to meet Jesus. The other Philip was one of the seven chosen to be deacons in Acts 6 and it was this Philip who evangelized in Samaria and instructed the Ethiopian official. As we reflect on the life of the apostles, we can feel envious of the close friendship that they had with Jesus. But in today's first reading from 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, Paul makes it clear that the Risen Jesus who appeared to Peter and James, all the disciples and to Paul himself continues to be present to us today. We can hear him speaking to us in the words remembered, reflected on and recorded by the evangelists. We live under the same sun and can look in awe at the same moon and stars which the apostles saw as they accompanied Jesus on his missionary journeys through Galilee. We can recite the same Psalm 8 that Jesus may have prayed with the apostles as they camped out at night. ''When I look at your heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and stars that you have made, I ask what are we human beings? You have made us a little lower than God and crowned us with glory and honour. How majestic is your name in all the earth!''