5/18/2016 – Wednesday of the 7th week of Ordinary Time – James 4:13-17

     Today, we hear a reading from the letter of James from the New Testament.  We know that there were two apostles names James – James the Lesser and James the Greater.  The author of this letter is neither of these apostles, but rather another man named James who was most likely a relative of Jesus’ and a leader in the Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem.  James is considered one of the most practical books of the Bible, full of advice on real-life situations that faced the members of the Early Church, advice that we can easily apply t our modern lives of faith.  Today’s reading from the 4^th chapter of James addresses how we can have all kinds of plans in life, but we never really know how life will enfold for us or what realities we will face even if we have everything planned out.  We know that we can make plans, but then those plans can go out the window very quickly.  And we can blame many different things when our plans go awry.   When I was a missionary in Ecuador, many of those who were members of the Catholic Church still believed in a form of black magic, of witch doctors who put curses on others and who caused destruction in the lives of the people.  If someone was going through great difficulty or sufferings, such as the failure of a business venture or a sickness in the family, it was easy to blame it on a curse that someone could have put on them rather than looking at some of the harsh realities that face us in life.  As missionaries, we spent a lot of time battling those belies and trying to instill in the people of values of Christianity.  James not only calls us to place our dependence on the will of God, but he also calls attention to the frailty and fragility of our lives, how we are like a vapor that appears briefly and then vanishes.  Discerning the will of God in our lives and then trying to follow that will – not an easy way to approach life, but this is certainly the way that calls us to live.  May we not waver from that road to which God calls us to in life, no matter how difficult or challenging it may seem.