First, a correction. Yesterday was not the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. It was last year on May 3; this year it was April 25th. Last year's date was listed in our Marist Brothers' Calendar, which I used as the basis for my little piece of bread. In any case, it certainly doesn't hurt to pray for vocations, and I hadn't mentioned it on April 25th, so, as they say, "we done our duty."
St. James reminds us of the prevelance of trials; how right he is. Today's news, for example, is filled with the water break story and reactions ranging from patient submission to anger and actual fighting. I think back to my years in Rwanda (and even today it is true) where limited water sources were part of the fabric of daily life. Our students would walk 20 minutes to a marsh to fill up a plastic pail with dirty water for drinking, bathing, and washing of their uniforms and dishes. We don't expect to do that in this country, but when there is a disruption of our ordinary "turning on of the faucet", it throws us into confusion.
When St. James wrote, followers of the Way were already subject to persecution. He sublimates this reality by advising us to turn our trials into moments of joy. "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perserverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (Js 1: 2-4). How many disruptions, time spent looking for things, dropping things, finding things not working today, have we had already on this muggy day? How are we dealing with the humidity? We're not being led into the Colosseum for martydom, but our days are filled with "little trials." May we be patient...may we, as St. Francis did, find "perfect joy" in them.
Bro. Rene
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