James poses a question in today's second reading that has been on the heart of every human heart since the beginning of humanity: "Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?"
Certainly this remains a poignant question for our time.
Last century is considered by many to be the bloodiest century of all time, though many centuries rival it in blood spilled. But last century began with WWI then followed it up with WWII, Vietnam, Korean conflict, Desert Storm which led into Iraq and Afghanistan. It contained numerous genocide including eastern Europe and African, Rwanda, just to name one.
It has contained too many acts of terrorist, the most notable for us 9/11.
I dare not go into detail of the terror of abortion that has swept across our land, 50 million plus.
The land cries out for the blood that has been shed. Humanity's heart is heavy with the question where does these wars and conflict come from?
James after posing the question follows it up with an answer. "It is from your passions that make war within your members? You covet..."
It all stems from the desires of the heart that have gone awry. At the very heart of this James diagnosis the problem as relating to "coveting."
Can all the wars really be reduced to coveting?
The word covet should automatically get us to think of the ten commandments. We are familiar with the commandments. For the most part we can even name few of the big ones: don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't lie, don't steal, keep holy the sabbath, don't take the name of the Lord in vain .
But how many of us have ever thought to stop and ponder the last two, number 9 and number 10: thou shall not covet your neighbor's house, thou shall not covet your neighbor's wife or possessions.
What is the big deal about coveting anyway?
In order to understand coveting, we have to understand the first commandment.
The first commandment begins not with "thou shall not" as we might assume but rather it begins with a positive affirmation of reality, "I am the Lord your God."
God invites us to understand reality perfectly; He invites us to enter into a relationship of life and love with this reality. In some sense god is saying, "I am yours and you are mine and we belong together." He is telling us that only in this communion can we truly begin to live and love as it was meant to be; only in this communion can the world begin to experience transformation.
after this God gives us the template for this relationship of life and love. The commandments that follow speak of our external actions that is all except the last two.
Number 9 and 10 do not speak of what we do on the outside but what we do on the inside. The last two commandments speak on the desires of our heart. God tells us it is not enough to regulate our external behavior we must examine our heart because he is jealous he wants all of us to belong to all of him, to love him with our whole heart, mind and strength.
When we covet, when we direct our desire to what others have we are actually doubting God's love for us. We are telling God that what he has done for us, what he has given us is insufficient. We are telling God we can do better on our own. We choose to take matters in our own hands. We fail to recognize the good of what God has given us personally. We begin to formulate plans by which we grow more and more independent and move away form God. We start to become our own God, set our own standards, determine our own way.
This certainly sounds like the cause of wars and conflicts.
Beware of covetous eyes!
St. Augustine tells us that the entire life of a good christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire. We must desire to do and live according to God's plan. We must foster a desire to rejoice in the goodness we have received. We must desire to be grateful for the good God has done. We must desire to be satisfied by God alone.
This way we guard our heart from coveting and guide it by way of dependence and gratitude.
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