2/24/2014 – Monday of 7th week in Ordinary Time – James 3:13-18

      We can think of a lot of different virtues that we can have in our lives – tolerance, intelligence, gratitude, moderation, selflessness.  When you think of virtues such as these, they seem to be a bit more easy to define in comparison to the virtue of wisdom, which is mentioned in our 1^st reading from the Letter of James today.  The Letter of James is all about living out a faith in God in the midst of the struggles and reality of our world.  James says that wisdom come out of humility, not selfish ambition or bitter jealousy.   Perhaps we can say it was wisdom that guided the father in today’s Gospel to seek out Jesus to heal him.  And the father is able to reach into his heart and say – “I do believe, Jesus, help my unbelief.” I always tell people that we should be embarrassed or dismayed by our unbelief or our doubts, but how we use our disbelief and doubts in order to search for God.  May the Lord help our unbelief.  May he help us find the wisdom that transcends our own selfishness and pride.