Monday, July 25, Feast of Saint James

1 Corinthians, chapter 2, Verse 3-15

3 I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, 4 and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

It is God’s desire that we be wise not in the way of the world but in the ways of eternity.

Human wisdom[1]

Greek tradition of wisdom was based in argumentation's. The Greeks lived to argue. Arguments (discussions) & logics were entertainments. Interests in philosophies and rhetoric was based not only what is said, but how it is said. Always looking for something profound (deep meaning)

Jews have their wisdom tradition which includes the wisdom Literature's.

1. Job – story of a man who did right & suffers

2. Psalms – classic wisdom, praise, laments, etc

3. Proverbs – classic wisdom: do right & no suffering

4. Ecclesiastes – meaning of life

5. Song of Songs – intimate relationship with God

Gnostics tradition of wisdom and knowledge was a heresy in the early church, a bad theology based on “Secret knowledge” that is needed for salvation. All matters are evil, spirit is good. Gnostics denied the humanity of Christ “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel –not with words of (human) wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power (made void)” “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” The Cross – is the Message. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”

Feast of St James the Greater, Apostle[2]

JAMES, by birth a Galilean, a son of Zebedee and Salome, was brother to St. John the apostle, with whom he was called by Jesus to follow Him. He was present at the transfiguration on Mount Tabor, at the raising of the daughter of Jairus from the dead, and other like miracles, and at the bloody sweat in the Garden. After the sending of the Holy Ghost he preached the doctrines of Jesus in Judea, Samaria, and in Jerusalem, where Herod caused him to be beheaded in the year 44. His body was brought to Compostella, in Spain, where it is venerated by vast numbers of the faithful, who make pilgrimages to his grave. St. James was the first of the apostles who shed his blood for Christ.