CC#3--Life of Christ

Welcome to the theory to action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately, and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.

Hello, I am David and welcome back to the theory to action podcast. This is another special segment of the Catholic corner. And the Catholic corner is where we attempt to pull faith and the supernatural life, from that proverbial corner of the room back to the center of the room to help all of us live a flourishing life a life of virtue. So this upcoming week is special because it is when Christians worldwide celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the God made man and outside of the Holy Bible for me, there has been no better biography written of the God made man in his life, then from the venerable Fulton J. Sheen, with whom he has a well known work the life of Christ, which was written in 1958. And please allow me to share just some of my favorite excerpts from this wonderful book. 

During this most special week, quote, history is full of men who have claimed that they come from God, or that they were gods, and that they bore messages, or that they bore messages from God, Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, Christ, Lau to, and 1000s of others, right down to the person who founded a new religion, this very day. Each of them has a right to be heard and considered. But as a yardstick, external, to and outside of whatever is to be measured is needed. So there must be some permanent test available to all men, all civilizations and all ages, by which they can decide whether any one of these claimants or all of them are justified in their claims. These tests are of two kinds, reason and history reason, because everyone has it. Even those without Faith in history, because everyone lives in it, and should know something about it. Reason dictates that if any one of these men actually came from God, the least thing that God could do to support his claim would be to pre announce his coming out of a meal, auto, auto mobile manufacturers tell their customers when to expect a new model. If God sent anyone from himself, or if he came himself with a vitally important message for all men, it would seem reasonable that he would first let men know His Messenger was coming, where he would be born, where he would live, the doctrine he would teach the enemies he would make the program he would adopt for the future, and the manner of his death. By the extent to which the messenger conformed with these announcements, one could judge the validity of his claims. Unquote. 

Is that not a good opening? Of a book, she goes on to tell us of Christ, and His pre history from the pagan testimony of Tacitus to the Annals of the Celestial Empire of China, in the east, to the Greeks in the Mediterranean, and then the Magi, and the Romans. He goes on to say, Not only were the Jews expecting the birth of a great king, a wise man and a Savior, the Plato and Socrates also spoke of the logos, and of the universal, wise man, quote, yet to come. Confucius spoke of the saint, the syllables, and of a universal King, the Greek dramatist, have a Savior and Redeemer to unloose man from the quote, primal eldest curse, unquote. All these were on the Gentile side of the expectation. What separates Christ from all men is that the first is that first he was expected. Even the Gentiles had a longing for a deliverer. or or a redeemer. This fact alone distinguishes him from all other religious leaders. Unquote.

Later on sheen, in his brilliance shares his unique insights with us on the birth of Christ saying, quote, Caesar Augustus, the master bookkeeper of the world, sat in his palace by the Tiber River. Before him stretched a map labeled Orbis Terrarum Imperium Romanum. He was about to issue a order for a census of the world, for all the nations of the civilized world were subjected to Rome. There was only one capital in this world Rome, only one official language, Latin, only one ruler Caesar, to every outpost to every satrap and Governor, the order went out, every Roman subject must be enrolled in his own city. On the fringe of the empire, in the little village of Nazareth, soldiers tacked up on the walls the order for all citizens to register in the towns of their family origins. Joseph, the builder, an obscure descendent of the great King David was obliged by the very fact to register and Bethlehem, the city of David, in accordance with the edict Mary and Joseph set out from the village of Nazareth for the village of Bethlehem, which lives about five miles on the other side of Jerusalem. 500 years earlier, the prophet Marcus had prophesies concerning that little village, quote, and thou Bethlehem, the land of Judea, aren't far from the least among the princes of Judah, four out of the will rise a leader, who is to be the shepherd of my people, Israel, Matthew to six, unquote. 

And all of this culminates with Fulton Sheen's incredible writing, even poetic, by my standard, at least, in these upcoming paragraphs, quote, Joseph was full of expected expectancy as he entered the city of his family, and was quite convinced that he would have no difficulty in finding lodgings for Mary, particularly on the count of her condition. Joseph went from house to house only to find one crowded, each one crowded, he searched in vain for a place where he to whom heaven and earth belonged, might be born. Could it be that the Creator would not find a home in creation? Up a steep hill, Joseph climbed to a faint light, which swung on a rope across the doorway. This would be the village in there, above all other places, he would surely find shelter. There was no room, there was room in the end, for the soldiers of Rome who had brutally subjected the Jewish people. There was room for the daughters of rich merchants from the east, there was room for those clothed and soft garments who lived in the houses of a king. In fact, there was room for anyone who had coin to give the innkeeper. But there was no room for him who came to be the end of every homeless heart in the world. When finally the scrolls of history are completed, down to the last words, in time, the saddest line of all will be, quote, there was no room in the end, unquote. 

And we will conclude these, this Mojo minute with these wonderful lines. Again, according to Fulton Sheen from the life of Christ, quote, there was no room in the end. But there was room in the stable. The end is the gathering place of public opinion, the focal point of the world's moods, the rendezvous of the worldly, the rallying place, of the popular and the successful, but the stable is a place for the outcast, the ignored the forgotten, the world might have expected the Son of God to be born, if he was to be born at all, in an in a stable would be the last place in the world where one would have looked for him. divinity always, divinity is always where one least expects to find it. No worldly mind would ever have suspected that he
who could make the sun warmed the earth would one day have need of an ox and an ass, to warm him with their breath, that he whom, in the language of the scriptures could stop the turning about of an article this would have his birthplace dictated by an imperial census, that he who closed the fields with grass would find himself naked, that he whose hands came from who's who, from whose hands came planets, and worlds, would one day have tiny arms that were not long enough to touch the huge heads of cattle, that the feet which trod the everlasting hills would one day be too weak to walk, that the eternal word would be dumb, that Omnipotence would be wrapped in swaddling clothes, that salvation would lie in a manger, that the bird which built the nest, would be hatched there in. No one would ever have suspected that God coming to this earth would ever be so helpless. And that is precisely why so many missed him. divinity is always where one least expects to find it. And from the holy Gospel according to Luke, this day in the city of David, a Savior has been born for you, the Lord Christ Himself, unquote.

 So, I hope you enjoy these special words from Archbishop sheen and from his brilliant work the life of Christ. I would encourage you to keep this book on your bookcase and read it each year. That's what I do. It will wildly enrich your life and most especially we hope that it enriches this week leading up to the birth of Christ. And as a wonderful endorsement of the book The the late father Benedict Groeschel said of Archbishop Sheen's life of Christ, quote, very few people in modern times, have a greater contribution to Catholic life or have encouraged and lead the way toward intimate friendship with Jesus Christ than Archbishop sheen, unquote. 

What an endorsement and as a heads up this week, we will be devoting all the Mojo minutes to the life of faith and the gift of faith. And on Christmas morning, we will share with you a wonderful tradition. And until then, I hope you have a grace filled week. And may God bless you.
Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at T Mojo academy.com where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on