Phases Of The Christian Life

Christ spent thirty years obeying, three years teaching, and three hours redeeming.

The above quote is attributed to Bishop Fulton Sheen and I find it utterly fascinating and a useful reflection for lay Catholics. I think some mistakenly assume that Bishop Sheen is describing three disconnected periods of Christ's life, suggesting that he only taught during one, redeemed during another. I don't think that is the case, but unfortunately I do think that is how we often behave and think of the events of Christ's life. And in so doing we develop unrealistic images about what it means to live the Gospel and what our own Christian witness might entail.

To the contrary, I think that Bishop Sheen would affirm that Christ's work didn't begin on the Cross, but was part of His life from the start. Instead, I think the quote offers us a view into the reality of all of our lives. There is a large portion of it spent living out the vocation to holiness in the ordinariness of life. Then there is a period of a more specific vocation, with a shorter period (or maybe just a moment) with a vocation of unique particularity. Too many of us live our lives as if we are in a holding pattern waiting for that big moment in which we will live out that great mission that is ours. When we think like that we need to remind ourselves that Christ spent thirty years of his life as a child, a neighbor, a carpenter. Surely we can draw from that something about the importance of ordinary life! Similarly, when we discount the life of Christ prior to his ministry or his redemption of us on the Cross, we tend to lose sight of the fact that our vocation of unique particularity, as I have dubbed it, may not have the explicit drama or "bigness" as that of Christ's. It may be far more subtle by earthly measures, but still with eternal significance. Maybe it's a conversation that only you might be in a position to have with another.

Comments

[David Morrison]

I think there are a couple of things here that have relevance (great site, btw).

First there is the whole notion from St. Paul that we are the Body of Christ in the world. That has particular revelance here because there are SO MANY THINGS that the body does that are "ordinary" and yet are miracles. Every single day, our cells process sugars into energy that keeps us alive millions of times. It is among the most routine and everyday chemical reactions that we have. Yet let one enzyme denature or let one amino acid lose a bond or fail to act and we die (at least physically).

Second, flowing from this, Christians need to understand that obedience in our daily, ordinary, routine lives and actions can be tremendously important and essential in a plan about which we know only the vaguest of outlines and which we cannot see more than the tiniest sliver from our earth and time bound perspectives.