Some Great Advice From Bishop Fulton J. Sheen to Start the New Year - Part 3
In this final bit of great advice to start the New Year from Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, we'll see how both our successes and failures can help us bring us closer to God. We begin by recognizing that all that is good comes from God:
“You begin to see that friendship, the joys of marriage, the thrill of possession, the sunset and the evening star, masterpieces of art and music, the gold and silver of earth, the industries and the comforts of life, are all the gifts of God. He dropped them on the roadway of life, to remind you that if these are beautiful, then what must be Beauty! He intended them to be bridges to cross over to Him. After enjoying the good things of life, you were to say: ‘If the spark of human love is so bright, then what must be the Flame.’ Unfortunately, many become so enamored of the gifts the Giver of Life has dropped on the roadway of life that they build their cities around the gift, and forget the Giver; and when the gifts, out of loyalty to their Maker, fail to give them perfect happiness, they rebel against God and become cynical and disillusioned. Change your entire point of view! Life is not a mockery. Disappointments are merely markers on the road of life, saying: ‘Perfect happiness is not here.’ Every disillusionment, every blasted earthly hope, every frustrated carnal desire, points to God. You can come to God not only by being good, but, if you only knew it, by a succession of disgusts. The very sense of loss you feel in this world is in itself a proof that once you were possessed, and possessed by God. Though your passions may have been satisfied, you were never satisfied because while your passions can find satisfaction in this world, you cannot. If at the present time your vices have left you, do not think that you have left your vices. Start with your own insufficiency and begin to search for perfection. Begin with your own emptiness and seek Him who can fill it. But you must be aware of your loneliness and want and disappointment before you can want Him to supply it. ‘Seek, and you shall find.’
These beautiful gifts of God lead us to Beauty. Each serves as a spark leading to the Flame of the Giver. But we need to shift our perspective if we're to live in the light of this deeper understanding: "Change your entire point of view!" Bishop Sheen offers us a striking way to effect this change (emphasis added):
“Look at your heart! It tells the story of why you were made. It is not perfect in shape and contour, like a valentine heart. There seems to be a small piece missing out of the side of every human heart. That may be to symbolize a piece that was torn out of the Heart of Christ which embraced all humanity on the Cross. I think the real meaning is, that when God made your human heart, He found it so good and so lovable that He kept a small sample of it in heaven. He sent the rest of it into this world to enjoy His gifts, and to use them as stepping stones back to Him, but to be ever mindful that you can never love anything in this world with your whole heart because you have not a whole heart with which to love. In order to love anyone with your whole heart, in order to be really peaceful, in order to be really whole-hearted, you must go back again to God to recover the piece He has been keeping for you from all eternity!”
Talk about communicating an idea! Bishop Sheen always knew what he wanted to say and always found just the right way to say it. Read it again. Let it sink in so that it sticks. Cherish it.
A further thought: If you're looking for solid spiritual books for daily reading, just about any of the works of Fulton J. Sheen would fit the bill. Remember that reading good spiritual works on a regular basis should be part of our daily routine. If we dedicate 10-15 minutes a day to spiritual works, along with reading Holy Scripture, and studying the doctrines of our Catholic Faith, we' can make great strides in our spiritual life; we'll have a solid foundation to assure that all our successes and failures help bring us closer to God.
“You begin to see that friendship, the joys of marriage, the thrill of possession, the sunset and the evening star, masterpieces of art and music, the gold and silver of earth, the industries and the comforts of life, are all the gifts of God. He dropped them on the roadway of life, to remind you that if these are beautiful, then what must be Beauty! He intended them to be bridges to cross over to Him. After enjoying the good things of life, you were to say: ‘If the spark of human love is so bright, then what must be the Flame.’ Unfortunately, many become so enamored of the gifts the Giver of Life has dropped on the roadway of life that they build their cities around the gift, and forget the Giver; and when the gifts, out of loyalty to their Maker, fail to give them perfect happiness, they rebel against God and become cynical and disillusioned. Change your entire point of view! Life is not a mockery. Disappointments are merely markers on the road of life, saying: ‘Perfect happiness is not here.’ Every disillusionment, every blasted earthly hope, every frustrated carnal desire, points to God. You can come to God not only by being good, but, if you only knew it, by a succession of disgusts. The very sense of loss you feel in this world is in itself a proof that once you were possessed, and possessed by God. Though your passions may have been satisfied, you were never satisfied because while your passions can find satisfaction in this world, you cannot. If at the present time your vices have left you, do not think that you have left your vices. Start with your own insufficiency and begin to search for perfection. Begin with your own emptiness and seek Him who can fill it. But you must be aware of your loneliness and want and disappointment before you can want Him to supply it. ‘Seek, and you shall find.’
These beautiful gifts of God lead us to Beauty. Each serves as a spark leading to the Flame of the Giver. But we need to shift our perspective if we're to live in the light of this deeper understanding: "Change your entire point of view!" Bishop Sheen offers us a striking way to effect this change (emphasis added):
“Look at your heart! It tells the story of why you were made. It is not perfect in shape and contour, like a valentine heart. There seems to be a small piece missing out of the side of every human heart. That may be to symbolize a piece that was torn out of the Heart of Christ which embraced all humanity on the Cross. I think the real meaning is, that when God made your human heart, He found it so good and so lovable that He kept a small sample of it in heaven. He sent the rest of it into this world to enjoy His gifts, and to use them as stepping stones back to Him, but to be ever mindful that you can never love anything in this world with your whole heart because you have not a whole heart with which to love. In order to love anyone with your whole heart, in order to be really peaceful, in order to be really whole-hearted, you must go back again to God to recover the piece He has been keeping for you from all eternity!”
Talk about communicating an idea! Bishop Sheen always knew what he wanted to say and always found just the right way to say it. Read it again. Let it sink in so that it sticks. Cherish it.
A further thought: If you're looking for solid spiritual books for daily reading, just about any of the works of Fulton J. Sheen would fit the bill. Remember that reading good spiritual works on a regular basis should be part of our daily routine. If we dedicate 10-15 minutes a day to spiritual works, along with reading Holy Scripture, and studying the doctrines of our Catholic Faith, we' can make great strides in our spiritual life; we'll have a solid foundation to assure that all our successes and failures help bring us closer to God.
Happy New Year!
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