Bishop Fulton Sheen | AirMaria.com

Stigmata of St. Francis

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:01:57 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

Lord, I ask you for two graces before I die: to experience in myself, as much as possible, the sufferings of your cruel Passion, and to feel for you the same love that drove you to sacrifice yourself for us.

My Lord Jesus Christ, I beg thee to grant me two graces before my death: first, that for the rest of my life I may experience in my soul and in my body, as much as possible, the same pain that you suffered, O sweet Jesus, during the time of thy most cruel Passion; and second, that I may feel in my heart, as much as possible, the same love which inflamed thee, the Son of God, and led thee to suffer thy passion gladly for us sinners.

+ St. Francis of Assisi

+++

On Holiness and Suffering for Christ:

In other parts of the world our brothers in Christ are suffering for their faith. And here we are at ease, just undergoing a slight test and dividing our loyalty between Christ and the world. We must realize in minds and hearts that this is a new age, that we will have to be a creative minority, and that the only argument that is left to convince others is holiness. The world has heard every other argument, and it is ready to reject them all, all except one: holiness

+ Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

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The Offering of Self so Another may Live

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:00:29 +0000

Ave Maria Mediations

The Servant of God, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, used to tell the story of Felix and Elisabeth Leseur. Felix was a very anti-religious man. His wife was a holy woman who loved him. And she offered all she had and was and all her sufferings with cancer for his salvation and conversion. After her death, he discovered her journal and came to know of her sacrifices for his soul. He would convert and become a Dominican Priest. Here is but a very small writing of hers followed by their story from Bishop Sheen.

The Gift of Self:

Not only in fulfilling my responsibilities to everyone, not only in charitable work, not only in prayer, but in my whole attitude and way of life. Great and holy ideas and deep convictions often influence others only through the attractiveness of those who embody them. “You will know them by their fruits” (Mt 7: 16), our Savior said: by the fruits of devotion, charity, and radiant faith, and also by those blossoms that first attract notice and precede the fruit; those are called tender love, graciousness, social refinement, serenity, equanimity, friendliness, joy, and simplicity. A truly holy person – mistress, by divine grace, of her body and its challenges – without ever speaking, exudes the delicate perfume of these flowers. Such a person attracts others by her gentle influence and prepares them for God’s approach, which she eventually obtains for them through her prayers.

Elisabeth Leseur

————-

By Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Just at the turn of the century, there was a woman married in Paris, just a good, ordinary Catholic girl, to an atheist doctor, Dr. Felix Leseur. He attempted to break down the faith of his wife and she reacted and began studying her faith. In 1905, she was taken ill and tossed on a bed of constant pain until August 1914. When she was dying, she said to her husband, “Felix, when I am dead, you will become a Catholic and a Dominican priest.”

“Elizabeth, you know my sentiments. I’ve sworn hatred of God, I shall live in the hatred and I shall die in it.”

She repeated her words and passed away. She died in her husband’s arms at the early age of 47.

Rummaging through her papers, Felix found her will. She wrote:

“In 1905, I asked almighty God to send me sufficient sufferings to purchase your soul. On the day that I die, the price will have been paid. Greater love than this no woman has than she who lay down her life for her husband.”

Dr. Leseur, the atheist, dismissed her will as the fancies of a pious woman. He decided to write a book against Lourdes. He went down to Lourdes to write against Our Lady.

However, as he looked up into the face of the statue of Mary, he received the great gift of faith. So total, so complete was it, that he never had to go through the process of juxtaposition and say, “how will I answer this or that difficulty?”

He saw it all. At once.

The then reigning pontiff was Benedict XV. Then came World War I. Hearing of the conversion of Dr. Leseur, Pope Benedict XV sent for him. Dr. Leseur went in the company of Fr. Jon Vinnea, orator of Notre Dame. Dr. Leseur recounted his conversion and said that he wanted to become a Dominican priest. Holy Father said, “I forbid you. You must remain in the world and repair the harm which you have done.”

The Holy Father then talked to Fr. Vinnea and then again to Dr. Leseur and said:

“I revoke my decision. Whatever Fr. Vinnea tells you to do, you may do.”

In the year 1924, during Lent, I, Fulton J. Sheen, made my retreat in the Dominican monastery in Belgium. Four times each day, and 45 minutes in length, I made my retreat under the spiritual guidance of Father Felix Leseur of the Order of Preachers, Catholic Dominican priest, who told me this story.

Nota Bene: The cause of Elisabeth Leseur’s canonization is proceeding in Rome. Fr. Leseur died a priest in 1950.

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Holy Rosary: Scripture-Based, Gospel-Inspired – Sep 30 – Homily – Fr Alan

apostolate — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 18:55:22 +0000

On the memorial of St. Jerome (Priest and Doctor of the Church, Sep 30, 2019), Fr. Alan explains that the Rosary, contrary to detractors’ claims, is a fundamentally scriptural prayer, which Pope St. John Paul II described as “a compendium of the Gospel.” Even St. Jerome, great lover of Scripture and translator of the Bible, would have heartily endorsed the Rosary, had he lived at a later period of the Church.

Ave Maria!

Mass: St. Jerome – Mem

Readings: Monday 26th Week of Ordinary Time
1st: Zec 8:1-8
Resp: Ps 102:16-18, 19-21, 29, 22-23
Gsp: Lk 9:46-50

More on the Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/093019.cfm

For more on St. Jerome’s comment, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ,” see the Second Reading from today’s Office of Readings in the Breviary (online here: https://divineoffice.org/0930-or/?date=20190930)

Eleanor Burnside’s book, Bible Rosary: The Life of Jesus, Thirty-Five Mysteries is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Rosary-Jesus-Thirty-Five-Mysteries/dp/0960806008

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Venerable Fulton Sheen on the Holy Hour

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 16:00:12 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

Neither theological knowledge nor social action alone is enough to keep us in love with Christ unless both are preceded by a personal encounter with Him. Theological insights are gained not only from between two covers of a book, but from two bent knees before an altar. The HOLY HOUR becomes like an oxygen tank to revive the breath of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the foul and fetid atmosphere of the world.

The Church believes that a HOLY HOUR spent before the Blessed Sacrament does more good for the well-being of the world than whole days spent in talking about progress to the utter oblivion of the fact that the only true progress consists in the diminution of the traces of original sin; she believes that an increase of sanctifying grace in a soul is of far more value than the increase of international credit; that a group of cloistered nuns in prayer are more effective in preserving world peace than a group of world politicians discussing peace.

+Venerable Fulton Sheen

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