17 May 2016
Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time
The 1st reading of today’s Mass begs for long prayerful consideration. The source of divisions is rooted in the passions. Yes, but let’s not go too fast. Passions are good. Let’s not get discouraged.
Sometimes conflicts are inevitable. We are not angels. We react to contradictions, hostile encounters and what we judge to be the stupidity of others. Didn’t some saints do the same – Mark and Paul, Jerome and Augustine?
Normally, the conversion of the heart and the perfect practice of virtues take time, more time than we are allowed on this earth.
St. James encourages us to be patient, primarily with our selves, because we can never be patient with God or others if we are not first patient with ourselves, particularly with our unbridled passions.
What James fails to mention is that we should not neglect humor, God’s and our own, because the roots of humor and humility are intertwined giving a funnier face to “tragic” conflicts and our passionate reactions to them.