Today we celebrate the feast of St. James, the Apostle. Jesus chose him, along with Saints Peter and John, to be with him in some of the most important moments of his life: the transfiguration; the raising of Jairus' daughter to life; the agony in the Garden.

There is a saying which goes thus: "if wealth is lost nothing is lost, if health is lost something is lost, if character is lost everything is lost." However, I once heard a priest make a correction saying that even if character is lost something remains but if faith is lost everything is lost. This vibrates well with what St. Paul writes, "We are afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not desperate; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed." Even in moments when everything seems to work against us, there is faith left. As God could raise the crucified Christ and crown Him with glory, so he can nurture hope if only we have faith, even as small as a mustard seed.