2/17/2014 – Monday of 6th week in Ordinary Time – James 1:1-11

      Today, we have our first reading from the New Testament, from the letter of James.  James talks a lot about faith. James says that the testing of our faith can produce perseverance, that perseverance is what we need to strive toward.  I don’t know about you, but it is easy for me to talk about faith when I have hope, when I feel like my faith is strong, but sometimes there are days when it is not easy to cling to that hope.   We can lose our hope.  We can let doubt seep in.  But what is most important is not whether we have doubts or not, but rather how we use our doubts as a platform for seeking God in faith.  It think it is rare for a person to have faith without that faith being tested in one way or another. I remember when I once took a course in Medieval philosophy, we were studying the proofs of God’s existence that were common themes with the Medieval philosophers.  I wrote in the conclusion to the paper that for me and my faith, those types of proofs were not important, that I went by faith alone.  The professor remarked that he considered me one of the lucky few, that this was not the case for many, that they needed so type of proof or sign.  And that is what Jesus talks about in today’s Gospel, how the generation around Jesus sought a sign, but the ignored the sign that Jesus embodied that was right before its eyes. If we persevere in our faith, God will give us the grace to endure.  And perhaps he will give us the grace to see the signs around us as well.