For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/051508.shtml
St. Isidore, pray for us!
The word of God cuts more surely than a two-edged sword. Today the privilege of sharpening our consciences belongs to the letter attributed to St. James, who indicts those of us (all of us I imagine) who show partiality toward those held in higher esteem by the world. The temptation to be liked by others who are important, and to thus become more important ourselves, is so extraordinarily difficult to resist. I suppose there are some who are naturally meek, and who do not have to go to great lengths to follow the advice of John the Baptist to 'decrease, so that He may increase!' For most of us, however, we want to matter. We want our lives to make a difference. We crave to be noticed by others, and so we cater to those who seem to have the most influence. St. James suggests, in a way characteristic of the word of God which always turns our thinking upside-down, that the rich of this world, far from being able to give us a 'leg up,' instead should more likely be considered to be those who 'oppress us' This is hard for us to get our minds around, isn't it? We think of oppressors being those who hold power over us and have the ability to treat us like slaves, not people whose autographs we clamor for! St. James warns us not to be slaves of those people that we idol, but slaves like Christ, of those whom the world considers weak. If we really think about how hard it is to make ourselves the slaves of those we look down upon, we will realize how sublime is the love that flows from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and how narrow the road that leads to the discovery of this kind of divine love!
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