16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
In this Sunday’s second reading, the Church continues its study of James’s letter. In this passage we see that James believes that someone who is truly wise and understanding bases his or her life and actions on God and his wisdom. For this reason, if a person’s life demonstrates envy, selfishness and ambition, then they are not being inspired by God. Indeed, behaving in this way actually betrays Christ’s message and hurts its spread. History (and our own time) shows a number of examples where corruption in the Church or among believers has caused this to occur.
Christians are called to create a community of equals but, all too often, we are only interested in ourselves and in what we perceive as our own needs. Sadly, the fruits of this all too human “wisdom” are “disorder and evil practice”. The wisdom inspired from above is completely different, for our relationship with God inspires and animates all we do. This wisdom, James tells us in verse 17 is “pure” which means that it is not stained by the world and all its temptations. It allows us to know how to act in our relations with others. James then lists six other characteristics of this true wisdom. A true Christian spreads peace, puts other people first, is willing to listen to others, shows compassion and is honest. For James, a holy person is one who is truly whole, exhibiting Christ’s love in all they do.
However, then, as now, painful divisions and controversies exist in the Church. James uses a rhetorical question to ask the community to look closely at themselves and trace the origins of these conflicts. They will inevitably find these origins within themselves and the lack of control they have of their own passions. Each person seeks what they believe is in their own interest and puts in jeopardy the interests of others. What begins as simple envy, if not controlled, can lead to murder and war. James suggests that even their prayers have been contaminated by sin for they try to get God to give them what they envy in others. Jesus said “ask and it ill be given to you” but we all have prayed for something and not received it. James suggests that the reason our prayers have not been answered is because what we request would not have been good for us and/or for others. We should pray not to try to get what we want but to grow in wisdom and knowledge of God.
Prayer is a form of communication and, by definition, communication works both ways. We usually do not like people who only talk about themselves and show no interest in us. A true relationship is based on both people expressing themselves and listening to each other. Prayer is a relationship and is based on the same principles.
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