Blessed Fulton Sheen and the Prodigal World
Bishop Sheen, (1895-1979) was beatified this year on September 24. He is now Blessed Fulton Sheen. One confirmed miracle --- the recovery of a newborn with no heartbeat for 61 minutes --- is attributed to his intercession. Bishop Sheen’s holy and virtuous life now serves us as a model.
In 1935-36, Msgr. Sheen gave a series of lectures which are contained in a book called “The Prodigal World.” In these talks, he portrays the United States, and the West in general, as repeating the mistake of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). He says that by squandering our moral inheritance (Christianity) we are entering deeper into a moral and spiritual abyss: “Not evolution, but devolution is the law of man without God… the world will not quickly realize that the Church, which it believed was so restraining to liberty, is really the only force that can make us free…” He adjures us to, like the Prodigal Son, return to our Father’s House.
In this book, he warns that “…if the world continues to get so far from fundamentals, a day may come when the Church will go out to battle in defense of the truth that two and two make four.” This has already occurred, as the Church has had to defend marriage as “one man, one woman,” that one is born and remains male or female; that an unborn human being is a person.
A common theme of Bp. Sheen’s writings is that there is the mistaken belief that evil is the result of injustices in the economic order and that these need to be redressed in order to create a free, peaceful, and just society. Bishop Sheen says that this is exactly backwards--- as it results in a totalitarian “secular theocracy,” in which individuals are forced to comply with what the state believes is “good.” Chinese Communists believed forced abortions were good; the Nazis believed killing the mentally handicapped was good. Pharmacists in Minnesota now face legal liability if they refuse to dispense abortion pills or “gender transition drugs” under the state’s “Human Rights Act.”
No, says Bp. Sheen, “…the basic troubles of the world are not in politics or economics, but in our hearts and souls… spiritual regeneration is the condition of social amelioration.” We are most free and just when we as individuals and a society live by God’s laws, doing whatever we ought, not whatever we please. Martin Luther King put it this way in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail: “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law… in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.”
In 1941, Bp. Sheen warned of a false understanding of freedom: “Given a freedom which is independent of God, independent of moral law, independent of inalienable rights and the endowment of the Divine Spirit, America could vote itself out of democracy tomorrow.” He warned of a return to slavery: “Once complete Christianity is denied --- there can be no argument against a return to slavery, against man’s exploitation of man…” “Men in the free world invite slavery when they ask the government to provide complete security, when they surrender their freedom to the ‘welfare state.’”
What does he recommend? First, he reminds us that “A minority with God can do anything.” He calls for holiness. He reminds us that the Prodigal Son asked for forgiveness and resolved to amend his life. This means prayer, penance and reparation. He specifically recommends a Communion in reparation (Holy Communion with the specific intention of making amends for sins, blasphemies, and coldness directed toward the Immaculate Heart of Mary) on the first Saturday of each month. Bp. Sheen prayed for one hour every day in front of the Blessed Sacrament. We might consider a regular holy hour too! Finally, expect to suffer: No Easter Sunday without Good Friday. “Blessed are those persecuted for holiness’ sake... be glad and rejoice, for your reward is great in Heaven” (Mat 5:10-12), and “…speak the truth in love…” (Eph 4:15).