We are always tempted to circumscribe areas, to delimit spaces, to determine belonging: who is in our group and who is not. We cannot act like this towards the Spirit and his gifts. Indeed, rather than delimiting and circumscribing, it is necessary to broaden, expand, as Moses does when he exclaims: “they were all prophets in the people of the Lord and would the Lord wish to put the spirit on them”. Jesus does not impede those who do good, even if he does not belong to the circle of his disciples. Outside their group there may also be those who act “in the name of the Lord”. You cannot first define who lives or who does not live in his name; you can only recognize it in the moment that the good happens. You can discern the signs, which are many and varied, and which escape any attempt at classification. Whoever does good, and whoever keeps away from those sinful and unjust behavior evoked today by James in his letter, remains in any case in the name of the Lord and acts in him, even in an unconscious way. Rather than worrying about others and their actions, or delimiting belonging, the disciple must watch over himself, so as not to be the one to scandalize with his own behavior–not only with his inconsistent action, but also with his claim to decide who has the right to do good in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey