It’s the last Mass of the Pilgrimage, and we celebrate St James, Apostle. Fr Dean recounts something of the last few days, and sends us on with a challenge to be influential!
Ask children what they want to do when they grow up and you get the usual list of ambitions. To be a world class footballer is always a popular one. And then a whole array of other things emerges from doctors to teachers, from astronauts to scientists.
A recent common dream which has made its way into the top ten of all time dreams for the future is to be a gamer or a YouTuber and, in the same social media vein, some want to be Influencers. Yes, that’s really a job. Some people make a living by being an Influencer, for good or bad, categorised by the number of followers they have. Some are influencers because they are celebrities, some become celebrities because they are influencers.
The mother of James and John has great ambitions for her sons. And we can assume from the disciples’ reactions, that her two boys shared her dream – a place of glory, please, an influential seat in the Kingdom of God.
Perhaps James and John had their heads in the clouds or they really had their eyes on the prize. Jesus can’t and doesn’t commit. But he takes them back a few steps. Are you willing to suffer? Are you willing to put your life on the line? Can you lay down your life, like a servant, a slave?
James and John. The great, would be, influencers are on a journey of discovery. They seek one thing but to get there is a winding path. Their influence would come through a different route, in a different way.
James is now for ever associated with pilgrimage. A patron to travellers, accompanying those on the Camino Way, the horizon before them, chasing a dream, carrying a rucksack of prayers, building up blisters along the way. Pilgrimage is painful. Is that what you signed up to?
Our own Walsingham pilgrimage is almost at an end, but the journey continues, and our luggage is often heavier on the way home, stuffed with what we’ve collected, souvenirs for home, mementos, mugs and crosses, coasters and tat. But perhaps in some ways we may feel a little lighter, managed to have had some of our burdens removed or gained the strength to carry them a few steps further or received a new perspective on life, a different way of seeing the world.
Each of us has influenced the other, and Mary has influenced us all. We have dared to stand where she stands, leaned in close to the one whom her heart loves. We have prayed and we have sought, we have been lost and are found.
We have wept with Mary Magdalene, rejoiced in the presence of the Risen Lord.
We have dared to look deep into the muddy cradle where miracles swim and hopefully found something of wonder and awe, a glimmer of light, a little glory.
With the little giant of Africa, we have picked up some of the litter across the landscape of our lives. We have crossed borders, and walked boundaries, moved to the rhythm of Mary’s heart, which moved to the rhythm of God’s.
And so maybe, on our way home, and when we get home, we can become influencers, and the grace of God which has gently nudged us, will nudge the world in which we walk or wheel like the shepherds who can’t keep silent, like St Bridget who just could not stay away from the sick and the poor, like Mary Magdalen who left the garden as a messenger of the Resurrection, like Mary, our Blessed Mother, whose nuptial stage whisper to the stewards at Cana, said, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Yes, do whatever he tells you.
Let that be the difference. The great influence on our lives.
Seek him, whom your heart loves.
And do whatever he tells you.
Enter the Mystery 
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