has prepared a place in heaven for you.
Let’s journey with the Lord through the Scriptures and watch His response to different sins and the souls who commit them. We will draw close to the Lord and peer deeply into His eyes. We’re going to sit at His feet as wisdom falls from his lips. We’re going to behold His face. We’re going to incline our ears to timeless stories, but examine how they might be lived out in timely, twenty-first-century ways.
Every true journey begins with a question
Before you turn this page, though, ask yourself if you are willing to let the Lord love you in radical and frightening new ways. Are you willing to be challenged? Are you willing to let the Lord change you from the inside out? Are you willing to be uncomfortable? Are you willing to die to yourself, your plans, and your dreams if God calls you to it? Exactly how far are you willing to go for your God?
Are you willing to take a second look at the Jesus you currently know and allow Him to speak into your life in exciting and daunting new ways? Will you let the Lord love you in frightening new ways?
These are just a few of the questions we’ll ponder, for if you’re going to live as a Catholic Christian in the modern age … get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The cross reminds us that God would literally rather die than spend eternity without you. God could live without you — He just doesn’t want to. God wants your heart, and by turning this page, you are signing the consent form.
The secret to a joyful life and a hope-filled future isn’t about figuring out tomorrow; it’s about listening to God today. God, the Author of Life, has something to say to you through the brothers and sisters who came before you.
Commit to read the biblical passages and verses referred to herein and to entering into the chapter challenges that follow. Do so and you will transform your homes, schools, workplaces, and parishes. You will breathe His light into others’ darkness, and there is no more important gift you can help give than the gift of His salvation.
So, pray with me now, that our hearts would be open, our minds humble, and our souls thirsty:
Holy Spirit, be with us now. Direct our eyes to Christ and our hearts to the Father. Blessed Mother, swaddle us tightly with each turn of the page. Hold us close to your immaculate heart as you did your baby son and your crucified Lord.
Come, Holy Spirit… Come, Holy Spirit… Come, Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now, let’s take a walk.
Chapter 1
Encountering Jesus Calls You to More
Christ and the Magi
We have five Nativity sets in my house: not out of overindulgence, but out of sheer necessity. One set is for my one-year-old, who is still learning how to treat things gently and that the horns of an ox are not to be used as a weapon. One set is for my six-year-old, who likes to take a more “interactive” approach to the Nativity, including inserting Disney princesses and Barbies into the biblical narrative. Last year, when I asked why the baby Jesus was in Barbie’s convertible, she responded, “Barbie is baby-sitting, Daddy … the trip to Bethlehem left Mary and Joseph very tired.”
The third set is for my nine-year-old. She doesn’t want anyone “messing up” the set by placing the figures the wrong way or in the incorrect order. The fourth set is for my “tween” who enjoys retelling the Nativity story from each character’s unique perspective … oftentimes adding accents to their voices. I’m not sure why the angels have an English accent in her brain, but the Gloria sounds classy, so I’m okay with it. The last is one very nice ceramic Nativity set high atop a bookshelf that my wife and I gaze upon and patrol diligently due to its fragility. A closer examination will reveal the angel has only one hand and the lamb only three legs, due to the “incidents” of 2007 and 2009, respectively (which again explains why it now sits up so high).
Each set represents something special and important. As a father, I want my children to place themselves in the story. It is essential that they see the birth of Christ as meaningful and fundamentally important in their own lives. And as sons and daughters of God, you and I need to remember the same thing.
It’s easy, though, for this to become just a story, isn’t it? It’s romantic and sacred and somehow almost too good to be true. This reality is a dangerous one. When we begin to view biblical truths through a purely historical lens, we lose something essential. Sometimes it’s healthy to re-imagine the scene again. As St. Francis (who gave us the first crèche) might suggest, picture the Nativity not as a set of figurines displayed on an end table, but rather as living, breathing souls huddled amidst the animals in a dimly lit cave on a cold winter’s night.
Inspired by grace
Swaddled tightly beneath a star-blanketed Bethlehem sky, God breathed gently yet powerfully. The acceptable time had come. The prophecies were now — at last — fulfilled. The Creator had invaded His creation on a mission of love and, for the next three decades, peace and joy would be breathed and “inhaled” (received) in tangible new ways.
That night, the divine life of God was communicated through a tiny human breath. Put simply, God breathed not solely so that He might live but that we would. It’s fascinating how something so small, a breath, roughly eight ounces of oxygen, forms the line between life and death.
The Latin word for breath — inspirare — is where we get the term “inspiration”; it literally means, “to breathe [life] into.” Inspiration, however, is far more than a biological word or concept; it is a deeply spiritual reality. God’s inspiration animates our Christian souls, guides our steps, and offers us both a mission and a purpose. We talk about how the Bible is the “inspiration” of the Holy Spirit … the Word of God through the pens of men. Stop and consider how vital this inspiration of God is to our faith and, indeed, our lives as Catholics! The Church is inspired, the sacraments are inspired, and — with any luck — with every encounter we witness on the pages of sacred Scripture we, too, are inspired. We breathe in God’s life (grace) that we might share it. Inspiration leads to respiration.
When we begin to view biblical truths through a purely historical lens, we lose something essential.
Since you began reading this you’ve probably taken between twenty and thirty breaths (fifty if you’re reading it on a treadmill, which isn’t safe, but hamsters applaud your effort). We know, of course, that inspiration is vital not only for our bodies but also for our souls. It’s when we realize how desperately we need oxygen that we come to appreciate it more.
It’s how our story began, after all (or, “before all,” if you want to get technical). Life began because God spoke; He breathed the word (see Gn 1:3) and creation spun into existence. It was when God breathed life into Adam, however, that things got even more interesting (Gn 2:7). Creation now bore the ability to inspire: to procreate life in God’s image.
We often speak about the people and the things that inspire us — heroic characters, timeless tales — heart-stopping and soul-stirring moments that ironically bring us life by taking our breath away. Authentic inspiration is a gift from God, the giver of all good and perfect gifts (see Jas 1:17).
Now would be a good time to take a deep breath, actually, because throughout the sacred Scriptures (also, inspired by the Spirit’s breath) you might notice that
