“To be Blessed, Fortunate and Happy…” As I ponder the blessed opportunity I had to attend the Beatification of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, I experience being drawn into a deeper communion with a saintly Bishop who pursued me and took me into his friendship some years ago.
A pastor of mine recommended Blessed Fulton’s book Remade for Happiness to me at a time when I was particularly struggling with my vocation and my purpose in it. As I began reading the book, I decided to also begin a 9-day novena to the venerable Sheen. Only the second day into the novena, I received a great tangible grace along with Sheen’s gift of pursuit--so that I would remain steadfast in my vocation. In other words--he pursued me and drew me into friendship with him. I have read a number of his books over the years since, and while I’m not great at remembering everything I read later on, I do know that I enjoy it thoroughly while I am actively reading it, and I do latch on to his gift of friendship, simply spending time with him. Author Maya Angelou once said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This is exactly my sentiment--I don’t remember everything I’ve listened to or read by the now Blessed, but I bank on his friendship and how he pursued me in love.
I asked that pastor of mine, “Is it okay to fall in love with a dead Bishop?” Without skipping a beat, the joyful Friar retorted, “Of course!” I suppose many of you share a similar sentiment--how Blessed Fulton has pursued you and impacted your life by his words and friendship.
How few others will ever experience the fame, celebrity status, his reaching the multitudes through modern media and authoring so many books, being a global traveler--in other words, the gift he received to be able to preach Jesus to so many and to be known by so many worldwide. We cannot compare ourselves to him on this level. For Bishop Robert Barron, in his homily at vespers on the vigil of the Beatification, reminded us that these are not the reasons Fulton Sheen is now a Blessed. What made Sheen blessed is simply his friendship with Jesus. In reflecting also on the homily given by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle at the Beatification Mass, what makes Fulton Sheen blessed, fortunate, happy…is, “Communion with Jesus” and “Communion with persons and peoples…the poor and the vulnerable, in the Name of Jesus.” I now understand Friendship and Blessedness to be two sides of the same coin.
The Saints and Blesseds, are friends of Christ. The priest (or bishop) who is Blessed is a friend of the Bridegroom--the one who has given his life to assist the Bride--the Church--to be faithful to the Bridegroom, to be the faithful spouse, beloved and friend of Jesus. This gift of friendship with the Lord Jesus and with our brothers and sisters is what we are invited to imitate. The Saints and Blesseds give us so much encouragement and so much friendship to help us on the way to our Blessedness, fortune and happiness. The Saints and Blesseds also were not perfect and show us that our weaknesses and faults should only make us rely all the more on God’s love and power, and the help of our friends in the Lord.
I may never reach the audience that Blessed Fulton enjoyed as a missionary evangelizer, but it doesn’t deter me from writing small articles that hopefully edify their readers. What I want the most is to imitate his virtue of friendship--to be like Jesus, to be a friend of Jesus--to commune with Jesus and to extend that friendship and communion with all those who cross my path.
Blessed Fulton J. Sheen! Pray for us!
