Martin Luther asked, “What drives Christ?” Christ is only too willing to tell us, and so we continue to go back to his story to learn from him, to make our own the Spirit that drives him.
I heard about a woman who was the director of a drug rehabilitation centre. One day a tall, strong man with a baseball bat entered the reception area. He was shouting obscenities and began banging the bat on the desks of the secretaries and admitting personnel. They jumped back and tried to get as far away from him as possible. One ran into the back room and called the police.
The woman who directed the centre came out and walked right up to the screaming man waving the bat. She ducked under his reach and wrapped her arms around his chest. In a heartfelt voice she repeated over and over again, “Oh, you poor man! Oh, you poor man!” They stood together in that strange embrace for a while, and then the man began to sob. The woman led him to a chair. He slumped into it and waited for the police. He never let go of the baseball bat.
I want to know how that woman laces and unlaces her shoes. I find her fascinating. And I suspect she knows what drives Christ?
With love and prayers to all, Fr Michael