 I came across a story of a wealthy owner of several
upscale restaurants who unfortunately was given only a few months to live
because he had been diagnosed with cancer. He decided to devote his last months
to improving the lot of those who were in great need. His plan was to disguise himself
as a beggar and go to his restaurants begging, to see how the down and out were
being treated. He was cruelly rejected at each one of his restaurants until the
last one where he was most charitably treated. He fired the managers of all the
other restaurants and made the manager of the last one general manager over all the
others. In this Sunday's Second Reading, James is equally intolerant of those who use the standards of the world to judge others. "Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God
chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom
that he has promised to those who love him?" Here James is identifying the elephant in the room that each generation persistently fails to recognize - by what standard are our lives to be Judged >>>Truth<<< In John's gospel Jesus said to those who started to believe in him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31 In his trial before Pilot Jesus said, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for
this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to
the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” John
18:37 It is rather ironic that it is Pontius Pilate who has the key question for our generation when he asks, "What is truth?" Our age has the knowledge of science and technology working for it which enables us to better understand the workings of this physical world in which we live. This gives us scientific fact. What we do with this information needs direction. The guiding light for all knowledge is truth. James shows his people how they are using the goods of this world to enrich themselves at the cost of the those less fortunate - a prosperous life that is void of truth. Is it not true that in the construction of a complex building, the carpenters, plumbers, electricians and all the builders need the architect who designed the building to show them what they are building? His design is truth. We have some very sophisticated builders in our world today, so why are things in such a mess? Dare I say, we are not consulting the Architect. Here is the link to the article I referred to above. > > > LINK < < < |
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