Fulton Sheen Teaches Us God Alone Is Rest - 3

We finish our mini-series on why God alone is rest, brought to us by Bishop Fulton Sheen. Before diving into his always enriching writing, let's all remember to pray for his cause. It's in process now. While these things take time, sometimes they sort of peter out after the initial effort. That was the case, for example with Father Willie, although in his case, the decision was made not to pursue his cause. This in the face of the overwhelming testimony of those who served with him in the trenches of WW I, where he was a chaplain as well as hundreds of written testamonies from people around the world who had prayed for his intercession in various personal matters. Why all of this momentum was resisted and set aside does seem a mystery.

But such are the ways of the world and the Church.

As we head to work today, we'll likely encounter, at least to some degree, more of the ways of this world of ours. While created by God, it's not always a friendly place. And in our work, we may encounter various challenges, difficulties, even temptations, as we go about our business. We include the difficulty of our current tasks or projects; unreasonable work loads; difficult bosses; colleagues who can be hard to get along with...and more.

Such are the stuff that can disturb and/or drain us after we put in our allotted time.

Of course, the world can also bring us great joy. We may have a particularly upbeat, successful day in our endeavors and our relationships at work. Add to this a happy domestic situation and loving relationships with our family, even our friends.

In the first case, we may crave the comfort of a respite from what ails us. In the second, we may joyfully celebrate our good fortune. Our personal lives reflect these same dynamics. But either way, Bishop Sheen shows us that something will always be missing. Only in God Himself will we find true rest, true happiness.

 

God Alone is Rest (Part 3 of 3)

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

 

“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.’

“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!”