Is My Phylactery Showing?

James 5:1–6; Mark 9:41–50

I’m not going to dwell much on the reading from James today. I mentioned last week how much I like this epistle. But I will say that I found his title James the Less to be rather ironic given how fiery he can be. And to think he was “less” in comparison James, the brother of John, the two boanerges or “sons of thunder.” I can just imagine how they must have stormed and raged. Anyway, James isn’t saying anything more than what Jesus said in Luke’s Sermon on the Plain—just saying it with a lot more intensity.

The gospel reading from Mark contains passages that are also used in different parts in both Matthew and Luke. In Matthew, the central part is used in the Sermon on the Mount.

James 2:1–9; Mark 8:27–33

I think the Letter of James is my favorite non-Pauline letter and may be my favorite New Testament letter all around. It is one of the Catholic epistles, those letters that were addressed not to a local church or an individual but to the whole Church. I like it because it really lives up to the name “Catholic” in its teaching.

Sirach 15:15–20; 1 Cor. 2:6–10; Matt. 5:17–37

Our first reading today is from the Book of Sirach. It also has a Latin name: Ecclesiaticus. It was used from the third century on to instruct catechumens and neophytes, and perhaps it will now be of more interest to our catechumens and candidates after their dismissal in a few minutes. This book is one of several wisdom books that were part of the deuterocanon or second canon, which were excluded from the Protestant bible.