1. THE HOLY APOSTLE JAMES

James was the son of Zebedee, brother of John and one of the Twelve Apostles. At the invitation of the Lord Jesus, James left the fishermen's net, his father and, together with John, immediately followed after the Lord. He belonged to that trinity of apostles to whom the Lord revealed the greatest mysteries; before whom He was transfigured on Tabor and before whom He lamented before His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. After receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, he preached the Gospel in various places and traveled to Spain. Upon his return from Spain, the Jews began to quarrel with him concerning Holy Scripture and no one was able to withstand him, not even a certain magician Hermogenes. Hermogenes and his disciple Philip were defeated by the power of truth which James preached and, both of them were baptized. Then the Jews accused him before Herod and persuaded Josias to slander the apostle. Josias, seeing the brave conduct of James and listening to his clear explanation about the truth, repented and believed in Christ. When James was condemned to death, this same Josias was also condemned to death. Enroute to the place of execution, Josias implored James to forgive him the sin of slander. James embraced and kissed him and said: "Peace and forgiveness be to you!" Both of them bowed their heads under the sword and were beheaded for the Lord Whom they loved and Whom they served. Saint James suffered in Jerusalem in the year 45 A.D. His body was translated to Spain, where miraculous healings occurred over his grave and, do so even today.

2. SAINT DONATUS

Donatus was bishop of Evira in Albania. He was endowed by God with the great blessing of miracle-working, by which he performed many miracles for the benefit of the people. Donatus changed bitter water into sweet water; brought down rain during a drought; healed the king's daughter of insanity; and resurrected a man from the dead. This deceased man had repaid his debt to a certain creditor. This unscrupulous creditor wanted the debt to be repaid a second time and, wanting to benefit from the death of his debtor, he came to his widow and demanded that the debt be repaid immediately. The widow wept and complained to the bishop. St. Donatus warned the creditor to wait, at least, until the man was buried and then the debt would be discussed. The creditor angrily insisted his own. Then Donatus approached the dead man, touched him and cried out: "Arise brother and see what you have with your creditor!." The dead man rose and with a frightening glance looked at his lender and related to him the time, when and where he had repaid the debt. He also sought from the lender his written receipt. The frightened lender then placed a document into his hands and the enlivened deceased tore it up and again lay down and died. St. Donatus died peacefully in very old age and took up habitation with the Lord in the year 387 A.D. His relics repose in Evira, Albania and, even today, benefit the faithful.

3. THE HOLY FEMALE MARTYR ARGYRA

Argyra, this neo-martyr was born in Brusa, of devout parents. As soon as Argyra was married to a Christian, a certain Turk from the neighborhood fell in love with her and invited her to live with him. The Christ-loving Argyra rejected such a vile proposal of this Turk. He became so enraged and accused her before the judge saying that she had wanted to embrace Islam and later reneged. This holy Argyra spent fifteen years suffering for Christ, going from judge to judge and from prison to prison. She loved Christ above everything in this world. She finally died in prison in Constantinople in the year 1725 A.D.

A devout elder lay on his death bed. His friends gathered around him and mourned him. With that, the elder laughed three times. The monks asked him: "What are you laughing at?" The elder replied: "I laughed the first time, because all of you are afraid of death; the second time, for none of you are prepared for death; the third time, because I am going from labor to rest." Behold, how a righteous man dies! He is not afraid of death. He is prepared for death. He sees, that through death, he passes from the difficult life to eternal rest. When the nature of man imagines itself in its original state in Paradise then, death is unnatural, the same way that sin is unnatural. Death emanated from sin. Repented and cleansed from sin, man does not consider death annihilation, but the gate to life eternal. If, at times, the righteous prayed to God to prolong their earthly life, that was not because of love for this life nor because of the fear of death but solely that they would gain more time for repentance and cleansing from sin in order that they may present themselves before God, more sinless and more pure. Even if they showed fear before death, that was not out of fear of death but the fear of God's judgment. What kind of fear then must the unrepentant sinner have before death?

To contemplate the Ascension of the Lord Jesus:

1. How all the gravitational forces on earth were unable to keep down the body of the Lord from ascending;

2. How by his ascension, the Lord showed Himself to be above the laws of nature.

About the illumination of Christ

"Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light" (Ephesians 5:14).

Saint Paul the apostle, similar to all the other apostles and Christian saints, whatever he teaches to others, he teaches from his own personal experience. For the Faith of Christ is an experience and proof and not a theory of human sophistry. Even Paul lay as one spiritually dormant and, he was spiritually dead while he opposed the Christian Faith. St. Paul was awakened, arose, resurrected in the spirit and was illumined by Christ. He knows himself from the time when he was spiritually dormant and from the time when he became awakened, and when he arose, and when he was resurrected by the Spirit and when he was illumined by Christ. That which he knows about himself as a Christian, he commends to others. As an apostle, he sees himself in a great light and believes that all other men, if they so desire, can be as bright as he is. The light is not his, but Christ's light. His is only the love for that Light, Who is Christ.

The illumination of Christ is necessary for man in the beginning as well as in the end. For without Christ's illumination man is unable either to awaken, or to arise, or to resurrect from the dead, as afterwards, he is unable to live alone by himself in faith or to die in hope. Christ is needed in the beginning as well as in the end. As to a drowning child the hand of the parent is needed to retrieve him from the water and afterward to lead him on dry land, protecting him and preventing him from drowning again; thus Christ is needed for those drowning in the waters of sin. The apostle himself received the illumination of Christ in the beginning on the road to Damascus and, again, he received it later. The first illumination was his conversion to Christ and the second illumination was the confirmation of himself in Christ. The first illumination we all receive through baptism and later, through faith, and the fulfilling of the commandments of the Lord. All of those who do not possess the illumination of Christ, either they have had it and lost it, are dormant as though dead.

O gentle Lord, awaken us, uplift us, resurrect us, for we cannot do any of these things without You.

To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.