A Second Look
Encountering the True Jesus
A Second
Look
Encountering
The True Jesus
Mark Hart
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
Huntington, Indiana 46750
Nihil Obstat
Msgr. Michael Heintz, Ph.D.
Censor Librorum
Imprimatur
✠ Kevin C. Rhoades
Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend
October 5, 2015
The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book is free from doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.
The Scripture citations used in this work are taken from the Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV), copyright © 1965 and 1966 by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Every reasonable effort has been made to determine copyright holders of excerpted materials and to secure permissions as needed. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently used in this work without proper credit being given in one form or another, please notify Our Sunday Visitor in writing so that future printings of this work may be corrected accordingly.
Copyright © 2016 by Mark Hart. Published 2016.
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All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without permission from the publisher. For more information, visit: www.osv.com/permissions
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750; 1-800-348-2440
ISBN: 978-1-61278-812-8 (Inventory No. T1618)
eISBN: 978-1-61278-372-7
LCCN: 2015957273
Cover design: Lindsey Riesen
Printed in the United States of America
Special thanks:
To Bert Ghezzi for his encouragement to “start writing” so many years ago, and for giving the Holy Spirit yet another opportunity to “wreck me” with His love and His Gospel.
To Rachel Peñate (for her holy editorial eye and worn-out backspace key), without whom the world would be forced to endure an unfathomable amount of parentheses, hyphens and constant ellipses flowing forth from my keyboard …
To Father Bob Schreiner for helping me sort out Spirit-led inspiration from personal assumption, and for reintroducing me to the beauty of the mystics.
To my gorgeous wife, Melanie, who repeatedly shows me the face of Christ’s mercy, forgiveness, and compassion in our daily walk.
It would take a library of books to express my love and appreciation for you and, even then, simple words would not suffice.
You are the greatest gift the Lord has ever entrusted to me.
Thank you for the unseen sacrifices you make — and for helping me to become the man God calls me to be.
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To our beautiful and incredible children: Hope, Faith, Trinity, and Josiah.
May you pursue the Lord with boldness, approach Him in humility, embrace Him with passion, and worship Him with abandon.
You four have taught me more about the love of the Father than any saint could ever hope to do. Thank you for the privilege of calling myself your daddy.
Contents
Encountering Jesus Calls You to More
Encountering Jesus Unleashes God’s Mercy
Christ and the Samaritan Woman
Encountering Jesus Unveils Your True Vocation
Christ and Simon (Peter)
Encountering Jesus Magnifies Your Gifts
Christ and “Eddie”
Encountering Jesus Calls You into a Relationship
Christ and the Rich Young Man
