KEEP WARM AND EAT WELL
Saint James was a strong believer in Social Justice. He illustrates this with a sort of reverse view of Jesus' sermon on the Last Judgment. Christ had taught that our salvation would depend on whether we fed the poor, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, etc. James builds on this by teaching that, if we ignore those in need, our faith is dead. For example, if someone came to us looking for food and we offered to simply pray for them, we would flunk our test. Do you just wish "good luck" to those in need, or do you make a real difference in the war against poverty?
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SIMON CHANGED TO PETER
Some people doubt that Jesus had a sense of humor because there is nowhere in the Gospel that mentions him laughing. But the Lord does make jokes. Unfortunately, many of them are puns that do not translate very well. Today's Gospel is a good example. Jesus changes one of his apostles' names. The alteration is applied to Simon, who is given the name "Cephas" or "Peter". Most people realize that the name "Peter" means "rock" -- but that's not the whole story. In Hebrew the name "Simon" means "little pebble". Jesus makes a pun on this, renaming the "little pebble" to the "rock".
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