Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle of St. James .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
James 4 : 1 - 10
Chapter 4
| 1 | Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
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| 2 | You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
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| 3 | You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
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| 4 | Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
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| 5 | Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?
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| 6 | But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
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| 7 | Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
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| 8 | Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
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| 9 | Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
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| 10 | Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
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Do not love the world or the things in the world.
The world passes away, and its desires; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Amen.
