Saturday 25 July 2026
St James
2 Corinthians 4:7-15. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy – Ps 125(126). Matthew 20:20-28.
Glory in God is not earthly glory
‘You do not know what you are asking’, Jesus tells two of his apostles in today’s reading. The mother of the sons of Zebedee – James and John – wants them to have an honoured place at Christ’s side. But, like many, she’s thinking about honour in worldly terms.
Jesus tells his apostles that in God’s kingdom the great must be servants, the first must be a slave, and to have life in heaven one must be willing to give their lives for the people on earth.
Thus, as it says in the first reading, we might be afflicted in every way but not constrained; perplexed but not despairing; struck down but not destroyed. Glory in God is not earthly glory but the promise of something far more profound.
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