Feast of Saint James, apostle

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”


Perhaps things are different for American children today, but when I was a boy -- way back in the middle of the last century -- it seemed like adults had all the power, and children had none. Without ever being asked what I wanted, I knew I wanted to be an adult. Adults get to do what they want to do and go where they want to go. They get to tell children what to do and think and feel! What could be wrong with that? All I had to do was wait an awfully long time and I would  have all the power. 
I'm still waiting. 
Do you suppose I'll have that much freedom in heaven? Is that the place where we can do anything we want and go wherever we want to go and be anything we want to be. Suppose I want to be an eagle today? Bingo! I'm an eagle. Fly away and see the world as eagles see them. Or a sparrow. Or a gopher. Or maybe I want to explore the galaxies. I'll see you next year; I'm going to check out Alpha Centauri. Cool! How about the  bottom of the sea, the Marianas Trench which is seven miles deep and dark as coal. I can feel my way around. Or maybe I'll drive an race car like A.J Foyt. He'll give me lessons! Super cool!
No one knows what heaven will be like, except some young Muslim men think they do and they may be in for a great surprise. 
In the meanwhile, I have learned that freedom, even the freedom of God who has lived among us, comes with the virtue of obedience. Is that what my parents were trying to teach me all along? 
Authority comes with an even greater price. Along with obedience is the willingness to bear another's burdens. Parents soon learn that being adult is not all it's cracked up to be. First of all, you have to quit being a child! It's somebody else's turn now and parents have to surrender it to smaller, weaker, more foolish people who have not earned the right but deserve it nonetheless. 
Authority over adults means respectfully listening to the needs, desires and expectations of everyone else while deciding what is best for all of us. And "best" may not be what I or anyone else wants, but it's necessary and good. 
In many ways that kind of leadership -- obedient, responsible, wise and sensitive -- is obvious to anyone who thinks about it. But we would never have thought about it until Jesus showed us. 
As I contemplated assuming leadership at one point in my life, a wise woman assured me, "It's nothing but a cross." There are satisfactions, of course, but only for those who pay the price and carry the cross. 
As we celebrate the feast of Saint James we honor him as the first bishop of Jerusalem and one of the early martyrs. Is that what he had in mind as he told Jesus in today's gospel that he could drink from the cup of which Jesus drank? Probably not. 
But he would soon learn. Seeing the death of Jesus and his resurrection, and discovering the Holy Spirit moving him to obedience, responsibility, wisdom and sensitivity, he became worthy to bear the burden. 
The feast of the Apostle James remind us to pray for our leaders, both men and women. They serve us the Church and we are indeed a heavy burden. We can lighten their load by allowing the same Holy Spirit to guide us in obedience. 

Recently I was reminded of the tremendous harm done to the church by renegade priests, those who leave the Catholic Church to start their own mini-denominations. I grieve for the Catholics who follow them, and for the children and grandchildren, the generations to come who are cut off from the Church by a man who loved his own will more than the Lord. Pray with me for their safe return before too much more harm is done.