The word of the day is “teachers.”  To grow in the faith and life of Christ, we need teachers to nurture and guide us.  But the scriptures repeatedly warn of false teachers that are like wolves among us, the sheep.  How do we know that we have genuine teachers who will nourish us with the word of life? In today’s reading of James 3:1-10, the apostle writes, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment” (OSB vs. 1). From this short apostolic counsel, we will derive some signs of dependable instructors. True Teachers Are Not Self-Appointed First, we learn from our reading that authentic instructors should not be self-appointed.  James writes, “Let not many of you…” (OSB vs. 1).…
The word of the day is “teachers.”  To grow in the faith and life of Christ, we need teachers to nurture and guide us.  But the scriptures warn repeatedly of false teachers that are like wolves among us, the sheep.  How do we know that we have genuine teachers who will nourish us with the Word of life? In today’s reading of James 3:1-10, the apostle writes, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment (OSB vs. 1). From this short apostolic counsel, we will derive some signs of dependable instructors. True Teachers Are Not Self-Appointed First, we learn from our reading that authentic instructors should not be self-appointed.  James writes, “Let not many of you…” (OSB vs.…
The word of the day is “tongue.” In our reading of James 3:1-10, we hear about the peril of an uncontrolled tongue. But how do we tame it? James doubts we can.  He writes, “for every kind of beast and bird… has been tamed by mankind, but no man can tame the tongue” (vs. 7). The apostle’s words are a warning to us. Yet in the verses that follow today’s reading and in other wisdom literature we find some wise advice about getting control of our tongue. Indeed, the management of our speech is an important topic. The apostle points out that an unrestrained tongue is more hazardous than a raging forest fire (vs. 5-6) or a torrential flood.  We…
The word of the day is “tongue.” In our reading of James 3:1-10, we hear about the peril of an uncontrolled tongue. But how do we tame it? James doubts we can.  He writes, “for every kind of beast and bird… has been tamed by mankind, but no man can tame the tongue” (vs. 7). The apostle’s words are a warning to us. Yet we find in the verses that follow today’s reading and in other wisdom literature some wise advice about getting control of our tongue. Indeed, the unrestrained tongue is more hazardous than a raging forest fire (vs. 5-6) or a torrential flood.  We cannot contain what is said once it spews out its folly, profanity, or rancor. …