What struck
me today as I read Luke’s gospel were the words pointing to the central role of
the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ life. “Jesus returned to Galilee in the
power of the Spirit…”
and as He read from the scroll handed to Him this quotation from Isaiah “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me….He has sent me…” [Isaiah 61:1-2] and there follows
the wonderful series of blessings: glad tidings to the poor,
recovery of sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free, proclaim a year
acceptable to the Lord.” [Luke
4:14-22]
It seems
Jesus senses the Spirit is intimately one with Him, moving Him to amazingly
announce to the assembled: “Today this Scripture passage is
fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus lives
and moves in the power of the Spirit. This
courageous proclamation spells out Jesus’ mission, His life purpose and
ultimately will result in His death. All
in the power of the Spirit. Anointed and
sent.
There have
been times when I’ve uttered words that seemingly came “out of nowhere,” words
of comfort when I volunteered at the hospital as a Eucharistic Minister, words
of love or forgiveness that surprised me even as I uttered them…where did that
come from?? My hope is that those times
when I was better than I expected, more loving than is my custom, more
forgiving than my recent ruminations on times of personal slights would seem to
allow – that perhaps that was the Spirit nudging me out of the way, showing the
Way. Letting me move in the power of the
Spirit. We can all claim this. After all, we also are anointed in Baptism and
sent in Confirmation.
May we all
walk the way Jesus walked, in the power of the Spirit. Anointed and sent. All love and healing.
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