Category: Fulton Sheen

Modern prophets say that our economics have failed us. No! It is not our economics that has failed; it is a man who has failed-man who has forgotten God. Hence no manner of economic or political readjustment can possibly save our civilizations; we can be saved only by a renovation of the inner man, only by a purging of our hearts and souls; for only by seeking first the Kingdom of God and His Justice will all these other things be added unto us.

The soul cannot be seen in a biological laboratory, any more than pain can be seen on an operating table.

It is not easy to explain why God permits evil, but an atheist can’t explain the existence of goodness. How could a spiritless, soul-less, cross-less, Godless universe become the center of faith, purity, sacrifice, and martyrdom? How can decency be a decent thing if there is no God? Since God is love, why should w e be surprised that want of it should end in pain, hate, broken hearts, and war?

If we use our lives for other purposes than those given by God, not only do we miss happiness, but we actually hurt ourselves and beget in us queer little “kinks.”

Love of God thus becomes the dominant passion of life; like every other worthwhile love, it demands and inspires sacrifice. But the love of God and man, as an ideal, has lately been replaced by the new ideal of tolerance which encourages no gift. So why should any human being in the world be merely tolerated? What man has ever made a sacrifice in the name of tolerance? It leads men, instead, to express their egotism in a book or a lecture that patronizes the oppressed group. One of the cruelest things that can happen to a human being is to be tolerated. Never once did Our Lord say, “Tolerate your enemies!” But had done say, “Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you” (Matt. 5:44). Of course, such love can be achieved if we deliberately curb our fallen nature’s animosities.

Conversion can also occur among those who already have faith. Christians will become genuine Christians, with less facade and more foundation. Catastrophe will divide them from the world, force them to declare their fundamental loyalties; it will revive shepherds who shepherd rather than administrate, reverse the proportion of saints and scholars in favor of saints, create more reapers for the harvest, more pillars of fire for the lukewarm; it will make the rich see that real wealth is in the service of the needy; and, above all else, it will make the glory of Christ’s Cross sine out in a love of the brethren for one another as faithful and loyal sons of God.”

Love of self without the love of God is selfishness; love of neighbor without the love of God embraces only those who are pleasing to us, not those who are hateful.

The fact the enemies of God must face is that modern civilization has conquered the world, but in doing so, has lost its soul. And in losing its soul, it will lose the very world it gained…And as religion faes, so will freedom, for only where the spirit of God is, is there liberty.

In moments when fever, agony, and pain make it hard to pray, the suggestion of prayer that comes from merely holding the rosary–or better still, from caressing the Crucifix at the end of it–is tremendous!

Why are you disappointed? Because of the tremendous disproportion between your desires and your realizations. Your world has a particular infinity about it because it is spiritual. But your body, like the world around you, is material, limited, “cabined, cribbed, confined.”