Wisdom 2.12, 17-20 A person’s actions reveal their psychology,
above all their fears. St. James teaches in the second reading
today that wars and conflicts between people come from the
conflict within each person. If we hate someone else, it is
because we hate something inside ourself. Otherwise, we might
pity them or teach them, but we would not hate them. If we are
rivals with someone else, it is because we are unsure of
ourself. Otherwise, we would just be glad to see someone succeed
even more than we do. Today the twelve Apostles were arguing
about who was the greatest. In their culture, it was important
to know the rankings of any group. The Twelve had been chosen
from all Jesus’ disciples and had been elevated to a higher
place. Clearly, Simon, who was renamed Peter, had the highest
place within the Twelve. James and John were next, and they were
brothers so they come as sort of a pair, but they wanted to
replace Peter at the top, or at least their mother wanted them
to. The other nine had to just fall