Stirling parishioner's new book gives parents tips on creating a faith-filled home
BY MICHAEL WOJCIK
News Editor
STIRLING - It's almost too amazing to imagine - sitting down in a house in Jesus' time, actually watching and listening as Jesus tells one of his parables right there in front of you.
As you imagine this amazing biblical scene, you may wonder even further - were other disciples sitting at a table? Was the room crowded? In his new book, Allan Wright, a parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul here, invites readers to pull up a front-row seat in many of the homes Jesus visited in Scripture. Not only that, readers of "Jesus in the House: Gospel Reflections on Christ's Presence in the Home" can learn how the actions and words of Jesus instruct us today about the critical role of the family in society, faith and raising children.
In his 190-page soft cover book, Wright, a theology teacher at Union Catholic High School, Scotch Plains, presents 29 stories of Jesus visiting houses in the Scriptures. Each short, "bite sized" chapter, according to the author, can be read in a few minutes. Jumping ahead to the present day, the chapters of this "user-friendly," easy-to-read book offer parents suggestions about praying, reading Scriptures at home, setting aside "family time," living out faith in their daily lives and developing activities that cultivate a faith-filled home.
"Jesus spent a great deal of his time in homes," writes Wright in "Jesus in the House," which includes a forward written by the author's pastor, Msgr. Patrick Brown of St. Vincent's, who endorsed the book. "All four Gospels attest to the fact that Jesus spent many hours sharing meals in the home... If the home is where Jesus met with people and taught, healed, forgave and shared meals, the early Christian followers would have had the supreme model to follow," Wright adds.
The 42-year-old Wright traces the importance of "home" in Jesus' life starting with a pregnant Blessed Mother visiting her sister Elizabeth, also expecting, and ends with Jesus' meeting men on the road to Emmaus. In between, the author recreates the stories in rich detail, immersing readers in the sights, sounds, goings on and the social climate of Jesus' day.
Published recently by St. Anthony Messenger Press, "Jesus in the House" lets readers observe Jesus at the banquet at Levi's house; at the supper in Simon the Pharisee's home; at a meal with Zacchaeus, the tax collector; and at the Passover Last Supper, where he instituted the Eucharist, among other scenes. Wright borrows from the stories and insights of Scripture, ancient history and theological writings - as well as mining his own imagination and his own personal experiences.
"Jesus in the House" also is aimed at another type of "family" - today's small faith-sharing groups, like the ones established by the early Christians, which often have dynamics similar to those of families. Wright writes, "The small group can present an opportunity for deep sharing to take place." He also gives these small faith-sharing groups suggestions on how to run their meetings more effectively.
Re-affirming the 'domestic Church'
"Jesus in the House" goes a long way to re-affirming the family, which Msgr. Brown in his forward, calls "the privileged setting where every person learns to give and receive love."
"By creating man and woman, [God] called them to an intimate communion of life and love in marriage," Msgr. Brown writes. "The family is itself based primarily on a deep interpersonal relationship between husband and wife, sustained by affection and mutual understanding...It receives abundant help from God in the sacrament of matrimony ... The love between father and mother is a source for children and it teaches them the beauty of a faithful and lasting love," he writes.
Impressed with the lessons for families and small-group faith communities found in "Jesus in the House," Msgr. Brown calls the book "extraordinary" in its dealing with "family life and the challenges that all of us must face in our fidelity to provide a hope where Christ dwells."
"Allan expands the definition of family by letting us see that it is a necessary good for all peoples as the core foundation of society," Msgr. Brown writes in an endorsement on the back cover of "Jesus in the House." "He teaches us that the Sacred Scriptures answer the questions of our present day family life," the pastor writes.
"Jesus in the House" is available at Catholic religious booksellers, on Amazon.com or by visiting Wright's Web site at www.allanwright.org.
