Moved by the Spirit

 A few random thoughts brought on by today's readings:  

In Hebrews we encounter Christ, the high priest of all good things already in being. John tells a rather abstruse tale of Mary anointing Jesus' feet with expensive perfume; what are we to make of this? Earlier in the book of John he wrote, “When all things began, the Word already was. The Word, then, was with God at the beginning.” Richard Rohr, in his book The Universal Christ, posits that Christ was not Jesus' last name; it is the unity of matter and spirit from the very beginning and through time, until the very end. Isaiah tells us of a servant moved by the Spirit and called to make justice shine upon the nations. So are we moved by the Spirit and called by Christ to do justice, to be a part of the Light? Each of us must ask, “How does this manifest in me?”  Like Paul, I sometimes feel that though the will to do good is in me, sometimes the performance is not. An old friend of mine told me recently, “You know, when I was younger I wanted justice. Now I want compassion.”

I like the words of Wendell Berry, who responds to the question, “How do we live in today's world?” by answering, “Look for the right thing, and do it.”

Ben Johnson