Life of Christ (Week 25 of 27)
One of the things I have most appreciated in our journey through Life of Christ is how Fulton Sheen makes me think and chew on things I’ve honestly never thought of before. He makes me realize anew, with each chapter, how Jesus meets us where we are.
This continues to be a Bible study of immense proportions because Sheen’s breaking open Scripture as he leads us through Christ’s life.
Chapter 54 finds us facing the empty tomb, and, in the part that struck me in a particular way, walking to Emmaus.
How often have you found yourself convinced that you know just what’s happened and just how bad things are going to be as a result? You plod along, wallowing in the negativity of it all, when…
…someone gently pulls you out of it, coaxes you to another viewpoint, teases perspective where none was possible before.
I have a tendency to be a black-and-white person. Things are fabulous or hellish, great or terrible, meat or lettuce. Though my life is painted in many shades of gray, punctuated with blues and greens and yellows, I still want to boil things down to the extremes: black or white.
There are times when I get so set in my thoughts (usually negative ones) that it takes a special sort of approach to get me to see that I’m not wading through mud, but floating on chocolate.
As I considered these two disciples on their way to Emmaus coming into contact with none other than Jesus, my smile wasn’t because they should have known him.
My smile was because I’m just like them. He could be right in front of me and I would blithely babble on, doom and gloom, black and white.
The Savior with His infinite wisdom did not begin by saying, “I know why you are sad.” His technique was rather to draw them out; a sorrowful heart is best consoled when it relieves itself. If their sorrow would have a tongue and speak, He would have an ear and reveal. If they would but show their wounds, He would pour in the oil of His healing.
Life in Christ, Chapter 54, paragraph 27
Once again, we see Jesus meeting his disciples right where they are.
They’re sad. And though he knows why, they don’t.
Have you ever been filled with sorrow, bursting with tears, and been allowed by some generous soul to express it in your own words, in your own way?
The disciples have a gaping hole, but Who they think is gone, isn’t. He’s right there, but they have to see Him.
The catch is that to recognize Him, they have to be open to Him.
It reminds me of those visual puzzles that used to be in the newspapers when I was in college. You had to look at them a certain way, half-crossing your eyes and somehow relaxing, and then the blur of colors would transform into a vivid three-dimensional figure.
“It pops off the page!” Or so I heard…I had slight success only once, and could never “see” the pictures, which would be the answers to riddles or the latest animated figure.
The beautiful thing with Jesus is that there’s no trick. You just have to open yourself, “have a tongue and speak,” as Sheen words it, so that Christ can “have an ear and reveal.”
Reading Assignment:
Chapters 55-58
Discussion Questions:
1. When have you been blind to Jesus’ presence in your life? How can you turn to Him today and acknowledge Him during your work and duties?
2. What wounds do you have that Jesus longs to heal?
Feel free to comment on anything from our assignment this past week!
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About Sarah Reinhard
Sarah Reinhard continues to delight ”and be challenged by” her vocations of Catholic wife and mother. She’s online at SnoringScholar.com and is the author of a number of books for families.