When I received my copy of Allan Smith’s The Soul of a Disciple: Fulton Sheen’s Meditations on the Cross, the Eucharist, and the Christian Life I was super excited to dive in as I had encountered Allan’s work previously, and had always found it to be deeply edifying, and this book is no different. When it comes to spiritual reading, there are books we read primarily to learn something, but then there are books that by their very style and content, invite us to slow down, immerse ourselves in the present moment, and become an entry point for transformative change. This is definitely the latter.
This reality is partially as a result of the majority of the content of the book—the thoughts and writing of soon to be Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Blessed Fulton Sheen always shared that his extraordinary preaching and writing flowed from his commitment to spending a daily Holy Hour in the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, and The Soul of a Disciple invites us to do something similar. This occurs by having us not simply read Sheen’s words, but through the crafting of a space in which we can allow those words to lead us into a deeper encounter with Christ.
It is in the structure of the book where I believe Allan Smith has truly excelled due to the simplicity and depth of the retreat format. Although each meditation is short, they are definitely not superficial as each day integrates the spiritual wisdom of Blessed Fulton Sheen with a brief reflection, Scripture, prayer, and a simple practice to help you integrate that wisdom into your daily life. Most brilliant in my opinion is that Smith doesn’t give you pages and pages of material to absorb—which would definitely be possible in light of Blessed Fulton Sheen’s life and extensive apostolate, but rather he selectively gives one sufficient material to ponder and then gives you the space necessary to bring that into prayer and concludes with encouragement to integrate that wisdom into your life of Christian discipleship.
The book is structured into six retreats of ten days each that serve to gradually draw you more deeply into the Christian life. Although you can use any of the retreats separately, you also can begin by learning to gaze upon the Holy Face of Christ, and then from there, learn to remain with Christ by beholding his Mother, Mary. After that, you can learn to become more like Christ through faithfulness to the Beatitudes. From there we learn how to love through the mystery of the Cross, and then learn to abide with Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. Finally, there is a special retreat designed to walk alongside Jesus through the events of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to the joy of Easter Sunday.
For me, I found this progression particularly meaningful because it reflects the essential movements of discipleship because following Jesus is not simply about knowing more about Him. As disciples, we must first encounter Him and learn to remain with Him so that our relationship with Him gradually transforms how we see, love, suffer, pray, and live, and Blessed Fulton Sheen proves to be a remarkable spiritual companion throughout this journey.
If you have ever read any of Blessed Fulton Sheen’s writings or listened to any of his talks, you know of his extraordinary ability to take profound theological and spiritual truths and express them in ways that speak directly to the human heart. What is particularly beautiful is how Allan Smith has gathered that wisdom and then placed it within a structure that encourages us to not merely admire the insights Blessed Fulton Sheen provides us, but empowers us to pray with those same insights and put them into practice.
This last element was especially important to me, as my own work has always been an attempt to provide Food for the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet to inspire, encourage and accompany others on the journey towards holiness. In this book, Allan Smith gives us Food for the Head by giving our mind something to consider, then Food for the Heart through Scripture and prayer to help move that truth into the heart, and then Food for the Hands and Feet through a suggested practice that invites us to carry the encounter into our daily lives. So, in the end, these reflections are not something to just be read and checked off, but are small invitations to conversion.
As mentioned before, the flexibility of the book lends itself well to use more than once as the six retreats can be made individually at different times, or prayed as part of one’s regular spiritual life, or to be shared with others. Although the final retreat would make an especially meaningful companion during Holy Week, walking with Christ day by day from Palm Sunday through Easter, I could easily imagine using it at different points during the year as the circumstances of my own spiritual life change.
What has remained with me most after reading The Soul of a Disciple is not simply the structure of the retreats or even the wisdom contained within them. It was the experience of encountering the remarkable spiritual depth of Blessed Fulton Sheen’s love for Jesus Christ. Throughout these pages, Blessed Fulton Sheen continually points beyond himself and toward Christ—to His Holy Face, His Cross, His Eucharistic presence, His Mother, His teachings, His suffering, and ultimately His Resurrection. The result is a book that has the potential to do exactly what good spiritual reading should be all about--transforming the mind, touching the heart, and nourishing the soul.
For those who already love Blessed Fulton Sheen, The Soul of a Disciple offers a beautiful new way to pray with his writings. For those of you encountering him for the first time, it provides an entry point into the remarkable depth of his spirituality. For anyone else seeking to become a more faithful disciple of Christ, these short and powerful retreats will serve you well in providing a practical path in striving towards that goal, so I highly recommend it!
Because the goal of discipleship is not to merely learn more, but to become more through transformative encounters with Christ, and The Soul of a Disciple beautifully reminds us that transformation like that happens one encounter, one prayer, and one faithful response at a time.
Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen, pray for us!