Stop the war!

Let us address the root causes!

What war? What root causes? Saint James tells us in today’s first reading (James 4:1-10):

Where do the wars
and where do the conflicts among you come from?

Is it not from your passions
that make war within your members?

You covet but do 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,
ecause you ask wrongly,
to spend it on your passions.

Adulterers!
Do you not know
that to be a lover of the world
means enmity with God?

What is the answer?

How do we stop the war within our hearts?

Submit yourselves to God.

Resist the Devil,
and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God,
and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you of two minds.

Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep.

Let your laughter be turned into mourning
and your joy into dejection.

Humble yourselves before the Lord
and he will exalt you.