Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Jas 4, 13-16 All boasting in your arrogance is evil

(Jas 4, 13-16) All boasting in your arrogance is evil
[13] Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit" – [14] you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears. [15] Instead you should say, "If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that." [16] But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
(CCC 305) Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children's smallest needs: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?"… Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well" (Mt 6:31-33; cf. 10:29-31). (CCC 2115) God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility. (CCC 2116) All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future (Cf. Deut 18:10; Jer 29:8). Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

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