various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:2, 3). In case we are inclined to modify these words as the utopian command of one who had not really experienced sorrow, let us remember that James was one of the principal leaders of the Christians in Jerusalem who continually faced persecution from those outside the Church (culminating in his own martyrdom in his sixties), as well as internal dissension associated with a Judaizing element. James surely