War is a passion…Letter of St James
Sep. 16, 2009 by hweidner
I wrote this as a pre-bulletin for the Catholic Community. The letter of St James, (3:16-4:3) is the second reading for September 20, 2009.
You are another generation at war.
Lives lost and resources wasted are the standard costs. But without a draft and taxes to pay for the war, we all of us, can ignore the war right now. So two thousand years ago the letter of St James asked a question not about partisan politics, but about a constant scourge we seem unable to avoid. When the latest war started (some years back since this one has lasted longer than World War II), the French bishops issued a statement that began “To wage war is to be defeated at the start.” There are no winners. Each war leads to another. The present Middle East crises date back to “peace” settlements from World War I. (See the last scenes of the movie Lawrence of Arabia…The Claude Raines character says, “Well, we will have a British oil company with an Arab flag on it.”)
The letter from James says in answer to the question about the origin of wars and conflicts, “…Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? You covet but not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passion.”
Consumerism is a passion that costs money and causes war.
