St. Mary's Church Elizabeth, IL

11/1

FEAST OF ALL SAINTS

"If anyone of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, and it will be given you."

                                                                                                              JAMES 1:5

Read James, chapter 1, verses 1 to 18

In the brief salutation, the author emphasizes neither his position of authority nor his relationship to Jesus.  He is rather as Jesus was, and as all are called to be, "a servant of God" (verse 1).  Later, the author will emphasize the importance of not showing partiality or favoritism.  Perhaps exemplifying his own admonition, he does not call attention to a special status.  The 'twelve tribes in the Dispersion" suggests that the situation of this audience can be compared to the feeling of being foreign in th world that the Jews experienced when, after the sixth centery B.C., they were dispersed in cities outside their homeland.  So, the addressees of this letter are not "at home" in the culture that surrounds them.  The values they must hold and the deeds they must practice differ enough from that culture that they must beware of forces that will threaten the steadfastness of their faith.  Much of the rest of the letter addresses the formation of the particular valdues to be embraced by the Chrisian so that interior character and outward action might be one.

     The admonition to ask God for wisdom (verse 5) is sandwiched between talk of trials and persecution.  Just before and after this admonition the trials seem to be those that come from the outside, ones not under our control, throught which we must persevere in faith.  But the trials (the same Greek word translated as trial and temptation) spoken of beginning in verse 13 are those we make for oursleves by allowing our desires to be shaped by conventional wisdom.  It is God's wisdom that ensures that we will not be deceived.  It is the treal truth.

For Reflection:

Am I too much "at home" in a capitalist, consumerist culture?  Which of my desires need redirection?  Which of the saints we cleebrate today can be a special model for  my own faithfulness?

Prayer Starter:

Jesus, the desire for you gives us all our joy.  Give me the wisdom to desire rightly and help me share the joy of you with all I meet.

Fr. Joachim