Tag: Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Father forgive them . . .

My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
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Today, Good Friday, April 7, 2023, we offer a brief essay based on the writings of Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen for the Passion of Christ.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!

It seems to be a fact of human psychology that when death approaches, the human heart speaks its words of love to those whom it holds closest and dearest. There is no reason to suspect that it is otherwise in the case of the Heart of hearts. If He spoke in a graduated order to those whom He loved most, then we may expect to find in His first three words the order of His love and affection. His first words went out to enemies: “Father, forgive them”,  His second to sinners: “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise”, and His third to saints, “Woman, behold thy son”,  Enemies, sinners, and saints—such is the order of Divine Love and Thoughtfulness.

The congregation anxiously awaited His first word. The executioners expected Him to cry, for every one pinned on the gibbet of the Cross had done it before Him. Seneca tells us that those who were crucified cursed the day of their birth, the executioners, their mothers, and even spat on those who looked upon them. Cicero tells us that at times it was necessary to cut out the tongues of those who were crucified, to stop their terrible blasphemies. Hence the executioners expected a cry but not the kind of cry that they heard.

Enemies

The Scribes and Pharisees expected a cry, too, and they were quite sure that He who had preached “Love your enemies”, and “Do good to them that hate you”, would now forget that Gospel with the piercing of feet and hands. They felt that the excruciating and agonizing pains would scatter to the winds any resolution He might have taken to keep up appearances. Every one expected a cry, but no one with the exception of the three at the foot of the Cross, expected the cry they did hear. Like some fragrant trees which bathe in perfume the very axe which gnashes them, the great Heart on the Tree of Love poured out from its depths something less a cry than a prayer, the soft, sweet, low prayer of pardon and forgiveness: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 
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The Death of Life

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previously posted on : March 22, 2021  by : evensong

Today, we offer a Lenten essay on sin by Venerable Fulton Sheen.

The gravest danger facing modern society, one which has brought the ruin of older civilizations and is destined to effect the collapse of our own unless we prevent it, is the loss of the sense of sin.

Remorse is almost an unknown passion, and penitent shame is but rarely felt. The burden of guilt does not rest on even a criminal’s heart, and even good men look on deeds of infamy and acts of gross injustice and are not shocked. This is not because they are innocent, but because no sense of sin possesses their souls. There is a general denial that anything is wrong or that anything is right, and a general affirmation that what the older theological generation called “sin” is only a psychic evil or a fall in the evolutionary process. Two principles inspire much of the personal and social dealings of many a citizen in our land; namely, “What can I get out of it?” and “Can I get away with it?”

Evil is confused with good, and good is confused with evil. Revolting books against virtue are termed “courageous”; those against morality are advertised as “daring and forward-looking”; and those against God are called “progressive and epoch-making.” It has always been the characteristic of a generation in decay to paint the gates of hell with the gold of paradise. In a word, much of the so-called wisdom of our day is made up of that which once nailed our Blessed Lord to the cross.
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Seven Words to the Cross

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SEVEN WORDS TO THE CROSS

Our Lord spoke seven words from the Cross; but there were also seven words spoken to Our Lord on the Cross.

THE FIRST WORD TO THE CROSS

Some never remain near the Cross long enough to absorb the mercy which flows from the Crucified. They are known as the “passers-by.”
The passers-by blasphemed against Him, tossing their heads; Come now, they said,
Thou who wouldst destroy the temple and build it up in three days, rescue Thyself; come down from that cross, If Thou art the Son of God. (Matt. 27:39, 40)

The Lord was no sooner on the Cross than they asked Him to come down. “Come down from the Cross” is the most typical demand of an unregenerate world in the face of self-denial and abnegation: a religion without a Cross.

As He, the Son of God, was praying for the executioners, “Father forgive,” they sneered: “If Thou art the Son of God.” If He had obeyed their taunt “Come down,” in whom would they believe? How could Love be Love if it costs not the Lover?

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Archbishop Sheen’s Prophecy on Errors of Russia

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previously posted December 18, 2014 by evensong

In 1950, Archbishop Fulton Sheen foretold the events which seem to be happening now, as the Chastisement of Fatima continues to unfold, with the present occupant of the See of Peter.

In his book, Communism and the Conscience of the West, here is what (then) Father Sheen said:

We are living in the days of the Apocalypse, the last days of our era. The two great forces-the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystical Body of the anti-Christ are beginning to draw battle lines for the catastrophic contest.

The False prophet will have a religion without a cross. A religion without a world to come. A religion to destroy religions. There will be a counterfeit Church.

Christ’s Church the Catholic Church will be one; and the false Prophet will create the other.
Continue reading “Archbishop Sheen’s Prophecy on Errors of Russia” →

Father forgive them for they know not what they do

My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
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A brief essay based on a clipping I have from Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!

It seems to be a fact of human psychology that when death approaches, the human heart speaks its words of love to those whom it holds closest and dearest. There is no reason to suspect that it is otherwise in the case of the Heart of hearts. If He spoke in a graduated order to those whom He loved most, then we may expect to find in His first three words the order of His love and affection. His first words went out to enemies: “Father, forgive them”,  His second to sinners: “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise”, and His third to saints, “Woman, behold thy son”,  Enemies, sinners, and saints—such is the order of Divine Love and Thoughtfulness.

The congregation anxiously awaited His first word. The executioners expected Him to cry, for every one pinned on the gibbet of the Cross had done it before Him. Seneca tells us that those who were crucified cursed the day of their birth, the executioners, their mothers, and even spat on those who looked upon them. Cicero tells us that at times it was necessary to cut out the tongues of those who were crucified, to stop their terrible blasphemies. Hence the executioners expected a cry but not the kind of cry that they heard.

Enemies

The Scribes and Pharisees expected a cry, too, and they were quite sure that He who had preached “Love your enemies”, and “Do good to them that hate you”, would now forget that Gospel with the piercing of feet and hands. They felt that the excruciating and agonizing pains would scatter to the winds any resolution He might have taken to keep up appearances. Every one expected a cry, but no one with the exception of the three at the foot of the Cross, expected the cry they did hear. Like some fragrant trees which bathe in perfume the very axe which gnashes them, the great Heart on the Tree of Love poured out from its depths something less a cry than a prayer, the soft, sweet, low prayer of pardon and forgiveness: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Forgive whom? Forgive enemies? The soldier in the courtroom of Caiphas who struck Him with a mailed fist; Pilate, the politician, who condemned a God to retain the friendship of Caesar; Herod, who robed Wisdom in the garment of a fool; the soldiers who swung the King of Kings on a tree between heaven and earth – forgive them? Forgive them, why? Because they know what they do? No, because they know not what they do.

If they knew . . .

If they knew what they were doing and still went on doing it; if they knew what a terrible crime they were committing by sentencing Life to death; if they knew what a perversion of justice it was to choose Barabbas to Christ; if they knew what cruelty it was to take the feet that trod everlasting hills and pinion them to the limb of a tree; if they knew what they were doing and still went on doing it, unmindful of the fact that the very blood which they shed was capable of redeeming them, they would never be saved! Why, they would be damned if it were not for the fact that they were ignorant of the terrible thing they did when they crucified Christ! It was only the ignorance of their great sin that brought them within the pale of the hearing of that cry from the Cross. It is not wisdom that saves: it is ignorance!

There is no redemption for the fallen angels. Those great spirits headed by the Bearer of Light, Lucifer, endowed with an intelligence compared with which ours is but that of a child, saw the consequences of each of their decisions just as clearly as we see that two and two make four. Having made a decision, they made it irrevocably; there was no taking it back, and hence there was no future redemption. It is because they knew what they were doing that they were excluded from the hearing of that cry that went forth from the Cross. It is not wisdom that saves: it is ignorance!

If we knew . . .

if we knew what a terrible thing sin was
and went on sinning;

if we knew how much love there was in the Incarnation
and still refused to nourish ourselves with the Bread of Life;

if we knew how much sacrificial love there was in the Sacrifice of the Cross
and still refused to fill the chalice of our heart with that love;

if we knew how much mercy there was in the Sacrament of Penance,
and still refused to bend a humble knee to a hand that had the power
to loose both in heaven and on earth;

if we knew how much life there was in the Eucharist
and still refused to take of the Bread which makes life everlasting

if we knew of all the truth there is
in the Church as the mystical body of Christ
and still turned our backs to it like other Pilates;

if we knew all these things
and still stayed away from Christ and His Church

we should be . . .

lost!

Indeed. As is the world today.

Without Christ.

Lost. . .

Something to think on;  many are lost, for there are so few to make reparation for them.

Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey:  First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.

†  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.
†  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! Viva Cristo Rey!
†  St. Joseph, protect us, protect our families, protect our priests.
†  St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King.
Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!

Archbishop Sheen’s Prophecy

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posted December 18, 2014

In 1950, Archbishop Fulton Sheen foretold the events which seem to be happening now, as the Chastisement of Fatima continues to unfold, with the present occupant of the See of Peter.

In his book, Communism and the Conscience of the West, here is what (then) Father Sheen said:

We are living in the days of the Apocalypse, the last days of our era. The two great forces-the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystical Body of the anti-Christ are beginning to draw battle lines for the catastrophic contest.

The False prophet will have a religion without a cross. A religion without a world to come. A religion to destroy religions. There will be a counterfeit Church.

Christ’s Church the Catholic Church will be one; and the false Prophet will create the other.

The False Church will be worldly, ecumenical, and global. It will be a loose federation of churches and religions, forming some type of global association.

A world parliament of Churches. It will be emptied of all Divine content, it will be the mystical body of the anti-christ. The Mystical Body on earth today will have its Judas Iscariot, and he will be the false prophet. Satan will recruit him from our Bishops.

The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers. He will not wear red tights, nor vomit sulphur, nor carry a trident nor wave an arrowed tail as Mephistopheles in Faust. This masquerade has helped the Devil convince men that he does not exist. When no man recognizes, the more power he exercises. God has defined Himself as “I am Who am,” and the Devil as “I am who am not.”

Nowhere in Sacred Scripture do we find warrant for the popular myth of the Devil as a buffoon who is dressed like the first “red.” Rather is he described as an angel fallen from heaven, as “the Prince of this world,” whose business it is to tell us that there is no other world. His logic is simple: if there is no heaven there is no hell; if there is no hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment then evil is good and good is evil. But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that he will be so much like Himself that he would deceive even the elect–and certainly no devil ever seen in picture books could deceive even the elect. How will he come in this new age to win followers to his religion?

The pre-Communist Russian belief is that he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves. . . .

The third temptation in which Satan asked Christ to adore him and all the kingdoms of the world would be His, will become the temptation to have a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy a religion, or a politics which is a religion–one that renders unto Caesar even the things that are God’s.

In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counter-church which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. . . .

But the twentieth century will join the counter-church because it claims to be infallible (when its visible head speaks ex cathedra from Moscow on the subject of economics and politics, and as chief shepherd of world communism.)

Now Archbishop Sheen was both very familiar with the message of Fatima about the Chastisement to come, and the threat posed by the “errors of Russia”. Hence the portion of his prophecy above that references the anti-church taking orders from Moscow, which may not seem applicable today. But there is a pretty good case to be made that on this point, as well, Archbishop Sheen was correct. That will be the subject of a further post or two.

It is becoming increasingly clear, even to the Novus Ordo “conservative” Catholics, that Pope Francis is preaching a “religion of man”, emptied of all concept of sin, and even of Jesus Christ crucified. Thus, he is not preaching salvation but damnation.

We should thank God and our Blessed Mother for mercifully making the truth of the current time glaringly clear for all to see. As Sister Lucia repeated so often, “Penance, penance, penance!”

Advent is such a beautiful time for us to strengthen and renew our resolve to consecrate our entire lives, all that we are, to the Immaculata in order to hasten the triumph of her reign.

Above all, Pray the Rosary and Confound the Devil and those who serve him.

†  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.
†  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! Viva Cristo Rey!
†  Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.
†  St. Joseph, protect us, protect our families, protect our priests.
†  St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

Pray for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King.
Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!