The Seven Last Words by Bishop Fulton J.Sheen - A Series

This is a post after a long time, but its not my reflections but the words of Archbishop Fulton Sheen written more than half century ago. It has proved to be an excellent book for spiritual reading, especially during the season of Lent.

Introduction

Three elements conspire in the making of every great message: a pulpit, an audience, and a truth. These three were present in the two most notable messages in the life of Our Blessed Saviour, the first and the last which He delivered to the world. The pulpit of His first message was the mountainside: His audience, unlettered Galileans: His truth, the Beatitudes. The last message He delivered had for its pulpit the Cross: for its audience, scribes and Pharisees who blasphemed, Temple priests who ridiculed, Roman soldiers who gambled, timid disciples who feared, Magdalene who wept, John who loved, and Mary who grieved as only a mother can grieve. Magdalene, John and Mary- penitence, priesthood, and innocence - the three types of souls to be found forever beneath the Cross of Christ. The sermon which that audience heard from the pulpit of the Cross was the Seven Last Words, the dying sayings of a Saviour Who, by dying, slew death. There was never a sermon like the Seven Last Words. Those seven words, unlike the words of dying men, never died.