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Today, the beloved American Catholic evangelist and TV host Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979) gets one step closer to becoming a saint. He will be beatified in St. Louis this afternoon, the penultimate stage in the journey toward Catholic sainthood (also known as canonization).
Sheen, who was a great theologian and philosopher in addition to his other talents, lived a life defined by unparalleled energy and deep commitment to prayer. He spent every moment working for the glory of God. He displayed this in everything from his commitment to study and the countless retreats he offered to his world travels preaching and raising money for the poor. This was a man who loved God and was motivated to proclaim His truth and goodness.
But what does it mean to say that Sheen has been “beatified”?
When the Catholic Church beatifies someone, it means, first, that rigorous investigation has shown the person to have lived a good and holy life, and that the person has been responsible for one miracle.
Sheen’s miracle was the unexplained recovery of a young boy, James Fulton Engstrom, who was born without a heartbeat. The boy’s mother prayed fervently, asking Fulton Sheen to beg God to heal her son. Sixty-one minutes later, the boy’s heart began to beat, and he had no medical ailments.
In order to be declared a saint, the Vatican will need to verify a second miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession.
Over the course of his life, Sheen provided millions of people with words of guidance in public preaching and writing. These can guide us in growing closer to God as well.
“Prayer,” Sheen said, “begins by talking to God, but it ends by listening to Him. In the face of Absolute Truth, silence is the soul’s language.”
The archbishop famously made a daily commitment to one hour of prayer each day in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. At the end of each retreat or conference he gave, he would mention this commitment to all those present in hopes that they, too, would make similar vows. Countless people took inspiration from this, and their lives were changed.
The secret to Sheen’s energetic existence was not adherence to any kind of fad. It was not following a hip diet or self-help guru. Instead, his energy was rooted in a daily commitment to prayer and silence. It was here that he was inspired to powerfully preach. It was here that he was given the strength to go above and beyond in serving God and the Church. Without a consistent prayer life, we can too easily become devoted to things that are not of God.
Sheen wrote: “If you do not worship God, you worship something, and nine times out of ten it will be yourself. You have a duty to worship God, not because He will be imperfect and unhappy if you do not, but because you will be imperfect and unhappy.”
Daily prayer orients our lives toward the only One who can fulfill us. Too often, without a commitment to prayer, we can convince ourselves that we are the center of the universe—that our wishes and desires are more important than anyone else’s. It is easy to place our worth in passing things such as comfort and attention, but worshiping God means being obedient to His commands, even when doing so is painful.
The more that we pray and place God at the center of our lives, the more that we become like Sheen and experience the love of God as he did.
“God does not love us because we are valuable,” he said. “We are valuable because God loves us.”
We are not special or unique because of what we have accomplished. Our value comes from the fact that we belong to God. He made us, and His Son gave His life for us. The cross of Jesus Christ reveals what every single human being’s life is “worth.” We are now worth the life of the Son of God. God died for us, even though it was our sin and selfishness that did the killing. Despite all of this, He was beaten and put to death for you and for me.
It was this love that Sheen experienced each day in prayer, and it was this unfathomable love that he sought to communicate to a hurting world. On (and after) Sheen’s beatification day, may we accept his challenge to pray more consistently, and may we be energized to bring others into contact with the heart of God as well.
Holiness requires it.
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