Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

For: Sunday, September 20, 2009

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From: James 3:16-4:3

True and False Wisdom
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[13] Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let him show
works in the meekness of wisdom. [14] But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish
ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. [15] This wisdom
is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. [16]
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile
practice. [17] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity.

[18] And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

The Source of Discord
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[1] What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is not your pas-
sions that are at war in your members? [2] You desire and do not have; so you
kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war. You do not
have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive because you ask
wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

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Commentary:

13-18. These verses point out the qualities of Christian wisdom (cf. 1:5). After
exhorting his readers to manifest their wisdom by their actions (verse 13), he
attacks the signs of false wisdom (verses 14-16) and explains the qualities of the
true (verses 17-18).

St. Paul also makes a distinction between worldly wisdom--the wisdom of man
when he veers away from his correct goal--and the wisdom of God, which rea-
ches its highest expression on the Cross (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18-3:3). St. James
pays particular attention to the practical effects of godly wisdom--meekness,
mercy and peace.

False wisdom, on the contrary, leads to bitter zeal, rivalry and resentment: it is
"earthly" because it rejects things transcendental and supernatural; "unspiritual"
(merely natural, "psychi" in the original Greek), as befits people who follow their
nature as wounded by Original Sin, deprived of the help of the Spirit (cf. notes on
1 Corinthians 2:14-16; Jude 19-20); "devilish", in the sense that such people are
inspired by the devil, who is envious (cf. Wisdom 2:24), "a liar and the father of
lies" (John 8:44).

18. What this verse means is that the "peacemakers" of the Beatitudes (cf.
Matthew 5:6 and note) create around themselves an environment making for
righteousness (holiness), and they themselves benefit from the peace they sow.
"There can be no peace,"John XXIII says, "between men unless there is peace
within each of them: unless, that is, each one builds up within himself the order
wished by God" ("Pacem In Terris", 165).

The "harvest of righteousness" is the equivalent of righteousness itself: it is ke-
eping the law of the Gospel, doing good works, which show true wisdom. The
passage is reminiscent of Isaiah 32:17-18: "and the effects of righteousness
will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever. My
people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings and in quiet res-
ting places."

Every Christian who strives to live in accordance with his vocation is a sower
of holiness and justice-with-peace: "Through your work, through the whole net-
work of human relations," (St. Escriva says, "you ought to show the charity of
Christ and its concrete expression in friendship, understanding, human affec-
tion and peace. Just as Christ 'went about doing good' (Acts 10:38) throughout
Palestine, so much you also spread peace in your family circle, in civil society,
at work, and in your cultural and leisure activities" ("Christ Is Passing By", 166).

1. "Wars" and "fighting" are an exaggerated reference to the contention and
discord found among those Christians. "Passions", as elsewhere in the New
Testament, means concupiscence, hedonism, pleasure-seeking (cf. verse 3;
Luke 8:14; Titus 3:3; 2 Peter 2:13).

St. James points out that if one fails to fight as one should against one's evil
inclinations, one's inner disharmony overflows in the form of quarreling and figh-
ting. The New Testament often refers to the good kind of fight, which confers
inner freedom and is a prerequisite for salvation (cf., e.g., Matthew 11:12;
Romans 7:14-25; 1 Peter 2:11).

"How can you be at peace if you allow passions you do not even attempt to
control to drag you away from the 'pull' of grace?

"Heaven pulls you upwards; you drag yourselves downwards. And don't seek
excuses--that is what you are doing. If you go on like that, you will tear your-
self apart" (St. J. Escriva, "Furrow", 851).

2-3. St. James is describing the sad state to which free-wheeling hedonism
(specifically, greed for earthly things) leads.

"You do not receive, because you ask wrongly": "He asks wrongly who shows
no regard for the Lord's commandments and yet seeks Heavenly gifts. He also
asks wrongly who, having lost his taste for Heavenly things, seeks only earthly
things--not for sustaining his human weakness but to enable him to indulge
himself" (St. Bede, "Super Iac. Expositio, ad loc.").

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries".  Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.  We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."  --  St Jerome

"The Father uttered one Word; that Word is His Son, and He utters Him forever
in everlasting silence: and in silence the soul has to hear it.
   --  St John of the Cross