Sep
15
Faith Without Works—Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 50:5–9a; James 2:14–18; Mark 8:27–35
Our epistle reading comes from James and is one of the well-known statements in scripture on faith and works. Sacred Tradition attributes this letter to the apostle James the Less, son of Alpheus (also known as Cleopas) and his wife, Mary, who was called the sister of the Blessed Mother Mary. It seems unlikely to me that a family would have two daughters named Mary. I think it's more likely Mary of Cleopas was the sister-in-law rather than a sister. Aramaic was not very specific in these distinctions, and the name Miriam was so very common as it had Moses’s sister as the namesake.
That relationship is why James the Less is called the brother of the Lord.
Our epistle reading comes from James and is one of the well-known statements in scripture on faith and works. Sacred Tradition attributes this letter to the apostle James the Less, son of Alpheus (also known as Cleopas) and his wife, Mary, who was called the sister of the Blessed Mother Mary. It seems unlikely to me that a family would have two daughters named Mary. I think it's more likely Mary of Cleopas was the sister-in-law rather than a sister. Aramaic was not very specific in these distinctions, and the name Miriam was so very common as it had Moses’s sister as the namesake.
That relationship is why James the Less is called the brother of the Lord.
