The Feast of St James (Tamara Katzenbach)

And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. (Matthew 4:18-22 New King James Version)

When Jesus called the sons of Zebedee there was no precedent for them, no one to ask how it was to follow Jesus. Imagine yourself being with them.
As soon as Jesus called James by name he got up and came over.
His nets were left in a heap to be looked after by someone else.
What an odd thing to say: ‘I will make you fishers of men.’ John the Baptist did not say things like that.
But still St James did not hesitate, nor did he ask any questions.  
No thought such as: ‘what am I going to do?’ 
No question like: ‘where are we going?’ 
He did not refuse, saying I cannot do this. 
Of course St James had no idea what he let himself in for. 
It may be a bit like dying – a true journey into the unknown.

By his witness for Christ Crucified Herod Agrippa came to believe, and they became martyrs together. But the journey still did not end here. His relics travelled the seas and came to rest in Spain. And even now St James of Compostela is the centre of pilgrim journeys from all over Europe. Many of those pilgrims don’t know what they let themselves in for either.

St James just got up and went to Jesus. He did not even turn around and look back, or say good bye to his father. I don’t know about you, but I often think I think too much and hesitate where I would be better off not doing it.

How much time do we take over decisions we make?

How many pros and cons do we have to juggle until we manage a conclusion?