Fulton John Sheen was born in El Paso, Illinois, in 1895. In high school, he won a three-year university scholarship, but he turned it down to pursue a vocation to the priesthood. He attended St. Viator College Seminary in Illinois and St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota. In 1919, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois. He earned a licentiate in sacred theology and a bachelor of canon law at the Catholic University of America and a doctorate at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
Sheen received numerous teaching offers but declined them in obedience to his bishop and became an assistant pastor in a rural parish. Having thus tested his obedience, the bishop later permitted him to teach at the Catholic University of America and at St. Edmund's College in Ware, England, where he met G.K. Chesterton, whose weekly BBC radio broadcast inspired Sheen's later NBC broadcast, The Catholic Hour (1930-1952).
In 1952, Sheen began appearing on ABC in his own series, Life Is Worth Living. Despite being given a time slot that forced him to compete with Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra, the dynamic Sheen enjoyed enormous success and in 1954 reach tens of millions of viewers, non-Catholics as well as Catholics.
When asked by Pope Pius XII how many converts he had made, Sheen responded, "Your Holiness, I have never counted them. I am always afraid if I did count them, I might think I made them, instead of the Lord."
Sheen gave annual Good Friday homilies at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral, led numerous retreats for priests and religious, and preached at summer conferences in England.
"If you want people to stay as they are," he said, "tell them what they want to hear. If you want to improve them, tell them what they should know." This he did, not only in his preaching but also in the more than ninety books he wrote. His book, Peace of Soul was sixth on the New York Times best-seller list.
Sheen served as auxiliary bishop of New York (1951-1966) and as bishop of Rochester (1966-1969).
The good Lord called Fulton Sheen home in 1979. His television broadcasts, now on tape, and his books continue his earthly work of winning souls for Christ. Sheen's cause for canonization was opened in 2002, and in 2012 Pope Benedict XVI declared him "Venerable."
This book is a collection of sermons from Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen where he speaks about seven different groups of people found at the foot of the cross at Calvary over 2,000 years ago and how these groups are still present today.
There are millions of souls in this great country of ours who have no religion whatsoever. Their attitudes vary from an earnest yearning for religion to an intense hatred of it. It is quite possible that all of them could be reduced to seven distinct categories.
Our Lord spoke seven times from the Cross — and these are called His Seven Last Words. But those who were on Calvary's Hill that afternoon addressed seven words to Him on the Cross, thus revealing the seven different impacts the Cross makes on souls.
The seven words, which Our Lord spoke from the Cross were not specific answers to specific challenges, but they do reveal lessons applicable to the challenge.
TO THE HUMANISTS
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
"TO THE SINNERS
"This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise."
TO THE SELFISH
"Woman, behold thy son! (Son) Behold thy mother!"
TO THE INTELLIGENTSIA
"My God! My God! Why hast Thou hast abandoned Me?"
TO THE MODERNS
"I thirst."
TO THE SENSATIONALISTS
"It is finished."
TO THE THINKERS
"Father, into Thy Hands, I commend My Spirit."
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was a man for all seasons. Over his lifetime, he spent himself for souls, transforming lives with the clear teaching of the truths of Christ and His Church through his books, his radio addresses, his lectures, his television series, and his many newspaper columns.
During the 1930s and '40s, Fulton Sheen was the featured speaker on The Catholic Hour radio broadcast, and millions of listeners heard his radio addresses each week. His topics ranged from politics and the economy to philosophy and man's eternal pursuit of happiness.
Along with his weekly radio program, Sheen wrote dozens of books and pamphlets. One can safely say that through his writings, thousands of people changed their perspective about God and the Church. Sheen was quoted as saying, "There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be."
Possessing a burning zeal to dispel the myths about Our Lord and His Church, Sheen gave a series of powerful presentations on Christ's Passion and His seven last words from the Cross. As a Scripture scholar, Archbishop Sheen knew full well the power contained in preaching Christ crucified. With St. Paul, he could say, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).
During his last recorded Good Friday address in 1979, Archbishop Sheen spoke of having given this type of reflection on the subject of Christ's seven last words from the Cross "for the fifty-eighth consecutive time." Whether from the young priest in Peoria, Illinois, the university professor in Washington, D.C., or the bishop in New York, Sheen's messages were sure to make an indelible mark on his listeners.
Given their importance and the impact they had on society, it seemed appropriate to reintroduce these reflections once again on the seven words spoken to the Cross.
Título : Seven Words to the Cross
EAN : 9781737189046
Editorial : Bishop Sheen Today
El libro electrónico Seven Words to the Cross está en formato ePub
¿Quieres leer en un eReader de otra marca? Sigue nuestra guía.
Puede que no esté disponible para la venta en tu país, sino sólo para la venta desde una cuenta en Francia.
Si la redirección no se produce automáticamente, haz clic en este enlace.
Conectarme
Mi cuenta