Week 6 of Ordinary Time
Feb. 18, 2020
James 1: 12-18Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.
Yesterday we changed
channels, from the Hebrew royal network of David, Solomon, and their successors
to the New Israel network on which St. James addresses “the 12 tribes” of
dispersed Christians (1:1) across the Roman Empire.
His 1st concern is with how
we handle life’s trials (1:2). Perhaps
he’s referring the harassment and persecution that were constants in the life
of the 1st-century Church. Certainly he
refers to the common trials of everyday life that we’re all acquainted with.
Today’s reading sums all that
up with the assurance that whoever perseveres in his faith in Christ will
attain a divine reward (1:12)—an assurance we need as much as James’s original readers.
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| The 7 Deadly Sins (Bosch) |
Then James shifts his thought
from trial to temptation—which, also, we’re all familiar with. Maybe some Christians blamed God for their
temptations, or just blamed God for allowing temptations to afflict them (1:13). Not so, James insists. No, our temptations come from within, from
our own desires (1:14). Those 7 capital
sins will always be lurking about, trying to snare us and “bring forth sin”
(1:15). But, James tells us, God’s good
gifts—grace and truth and mercy—are always at hand, that we might be the 1st
proofs of the new creation (1:17-18), in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus.
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