Word of the day

A reading from the Letter of James
Jas 1:1-11

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings.

Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters,
when you encounter various trials,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
And let perseverance be perfect,
so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom,
he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly,
and he will be given it.
But he should ask in faith, not doubting,
for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea
that is driven and tossed about by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,
since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways.

The brother in lowly circumstances
should take pride in high standing,
and the rich one in his lowliness,
for he will pass away "like the flower of the field."
For the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass,
its flower droops, and the beauty of its appearance vanishes.
So will the rich person fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 8:11-13

The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
"Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore.

The Christian life, has to be carried out with this music of patience, because it was the music of our fathers: the people of God. The music of those who believed in the Word of God, who followed the commandment which the Lord had given to our father Abraham: Walk before me and be blameless. (…) How patient our people are even now!. There are many suffering people who are able to bring life forward with patience. They do not ask for a sign, as the Pharisees did, but they instead know how to read the signs of the times. They know that when figs grow on a tree it is springtime. Instead “impatient” people presented in the Gospel, “wanted a sign” but “did not know how to read the signs of the times. For this reason they did not recognize Jesus”. The world was unworthy of God’s people. But today “we can say the same about those of our people who suffer, who suffer many, many things, but do not lose the smile of faith, which has the joy of faith”. Yes, “the world is not worthy” of any of them. These are the “people, our people, in our parishes, in our institutions”, who carry “the Church forward with their every day sanctity”. In conclusion, the Lord may give “each of us patience: joyful patience, the patience of labour, of peace”; “the patience of God” and “the patience of our faithful people who are so exemplary”. (Santa Marta, 17 February 2014)