Thursday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time
The Letter of James warns us about favoritism. It is favoritism in a specific setting that is given to the worship of God, to the preference of Him over all else.
James is telling us that a Christian Community is not to become a “good ol’ boys” club. Christian communities are ordered to sanctification, not to “being cool.” The distortion happens when personalities are placed before principles.
We learned on Sunday that the reverence, the preference for others over self, that James wants us to show to the un-cool, is shown by the power of that which is preferred to everything. That power to meet the demands of love, guides our need for belonging, for ego-gratification, within the Christian community. That gratification occurs by meeting the criteria of Christ to be “meek and humble of heart”. James and Jesus point to the poor repeatedly and say, “One receptive to Christ is like that.” It is good for us to be in their world. Then we are thinking as God does.