"Love follows knowledge."
"Beauty above all beauty!"
– St. Catherine of Siena

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Treasure in Clay: The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen, Part 4

This is my fourth and final posts on Treasure in Clay. 

Part 1 of my posts on Treasure in Clay can be found here.  
Part 2 can be found here.  
Part 3 here.



Summary, Chapters 17 thru 20

Chapter 17, “The Second Vatican Council”:
Sheen discusses his involvement with the Second Vatican Council and the Council’s objectives, events, and outcome.

Chapter 18, “The Lighter Side”:
Bishop Sheen speaks of his sense of humor and of a number of amusing events in his life.

Chapter 19, “Things Left Unsaid”:
Bishop Sheen provides his view of internal conflicts and of the importance of silence and restraint. 

Chapter 20, “The Woman I Love”:
Bishop Sheen speaks of his love for the Blessed Mother and of her importance in the spiritual life of a Christian.

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Comment 1:
The chapter on the Vatican II was interesting.  I have to learn more about Vatican II.  I was surprised at how monolithic the voting turned out.  The voting ran roughly 97% yes for all articles.  Would we have that today?  The recent Amazonian Synod vote was 128-41, which was roughly 76% yes.  Perhaps Vatican II was just not as controversial as I thought.  The Amazonian Synod was definitely controversial.  I thought this paragraph was insightful.

The Vatican Council was held at that period of history when it was necessary to strike a balance between two extremes both in the world and in the Church: individualism and socialism. By individualism I mean the emphasis on the right of the individual either to develop his own spirituality or economically to increase his own capital without much concern for the social good. By socialism I mean the stress on social welfare with little concern for either the individual's religion or his morals.

Here is his summary of the Council's accomplishments:

What the Council did was establish equilibrium or balance between these extremes-between evangelization and human progress, between soul-winning and society-saving, between divine salvation and human liberation. It made both inseparable. The Council decided that we must beget children of God through evangelization but not without giving witness to fraternal love and a sensitiveness to humanity's desire for freedom and justice. For the first time in the history of all the Councils of the Church, there was a chapter on "The World" in which there was stressed the unity of creation and redemption; and the truth that the dignity and freedom of the human person is inseparable from salvation. It was a master stroke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that bishops gathered from all over the world could see the new direction the Church must take-which actually was nothing else than the old direction that Christian salvation has an earthly and historical dimension, namely, the relation of the love of God and love of neighbor.

That last sentence kind of make me wince a little.  It seems to be implying that the love of neighbor was missing.  So the Church did not advocate a love of neighbor before?  The Church did not set up hospitals, take care of orphans and feed the hungry before Vatican II?  From what I've seen historically it seems to me it did quite a bit of it.  After all there were no welfare programs.  It was the religious institutions, Catholic and others, that took care of the poor.  It would not surprise me that as a percentage of money and effort spent, the Churches did more before Vatican II and welfare systems than they do now.  That responsibility for the poor has been relieved from the religious institutions with the creation and expansion of welfare programs.

But I'm not going to say I'm an expert.


Comment 2:
I also loved the chapter on the Blessed Mother.  He is so spot on when he says this:

I think one of the major defects in world religions has been the absence of the feminine. The absence becomes more striking in a study of Christian sects where so little attention is paid to the Mother of Christ.

It has been pointed out to me that Catholicism has so much more of a feminine touch as compared to an overly masculine perspective of the Protestants, Jews, and Muslims.  I really believe it’s because we have our Blessed Mother in so prominent a role in our faith. 

I loved this quote as a parry to the criticism we worship Mary:

God Who made the sun also made the moon. The moon does not take away from the brilliance of the sun. The moon would be only a burned-out cinder floating in the immensity of space, were it not for the sun.  All its light is reflected from that glowing furnace. In like manner, Mary reflects her Divine Son, without Whom she is nothing.

This was great.

While I was still in the first grade, a suggestion was made by a good nun that we put at the top of every page the initials J.M.J., standing for dedication to “Jesus, Mary and Joseph.” In the course of my life I have written tens of thousands of pages. I do not believe I ever set my pen or pencil to paper without having put the seal of dedication on my work.

Wow, I would love to take up that habit.  I don’t know if I can at my age, but that is something that should be more promoted.  I’ll have to give it a try.

And this was very insightful. 

Devotion to the Blessed Mother brought me to the discovery of a new dimension in the sacredness of suffering. I do not believe that I ever in my life said to the Good Lord: “What did I do to deserve all these trials?” In my own heart I knew that I received fewer blows than I deserved. Furthermore, if Christ the Lord had summoned His Mother, who was free from sin, to share in the Cross, then the Christian must scratch from his vocabulary the word “deserve.”

And he elaborates on this theme further in the chapter:

If the Lord called her, who “deserved” no pain, to stand at the foot of the Cross, why should He not call me? If I had expressed a love for her as the Mother of the Priesthood, why should she not, in maternal love, make me more like her Son by forcing me to become a victim?

So if she suffered along with her Son, then we are privileged to suffer along with both.  That is quite a statement on suffering.


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Chapter 21, “The Three Stages of My Life”:
Bishop Sheen in summation divides his life into three stages: the call, the profession, the second look.

Epilogue, “Bye Now, Fulton Sheen, and God Love You Forever”:
We are provided the homily delivered at Bishop Sheen’s Funeral Mass on December 13th, 1979.  We are also given a summation of his life, and a chronology of the events in his life.

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Comment from Celia:

Here is a quote that will stay with me a long time:

"Peter did what he did not plan to do—what he did not wish to do—what he had been warned against doing—what he declared he would never do. And they were both brought face to face with their guilt. Judas had only remorse, but Peter showed sorrow. If Judas had returned to the Lord he would have been saved by that second look, but in him there was a total and final rejection of Christ; in Peter, a loving return."

How will WE react to Christ's Second Look?

My Reply:

I noticed that quote too Celia. Good point about the tone of that last chapter. Yes I sensed it too but I couldn’t put my finger on it until you pointed it out. Is it possible that the first twenty chapters were written before his heart operation and that last chapter after. It seemed like he was so much less jovial and sensing his mortality after the heart issue. It does feel like something dramatic changed him in that last chapter. Just a thought.

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My Goodreads Review:

In a way, Archbishop Fulton Sheen spans the Catholic Church in the 20th century.  The soon-to-be canonized saint takes us through his life, his career in the media, his evangelization, his take on various theological arguments, his relationships with the various popes, his spirituality, and his engagement with the world.  All the while he passes on wonderful wisdom.  For instance, here he sums up what he learned as a teacher:

I felt a deep moral obligation to students; that is why I spent so many hours in preparation for each class. In an age of social justice one phase that seems neglected is the moral duty of professors to give their students a just return for their tuition. This applies not only to the method of teaching but to the content as well. A teacher who himself does not learn is no teacher. Teaching is one of the noblest vocations on earth, for, in the last analysis, the purpose of all education is the knowledge and love of truth.

In this autobiography, Bishop Sheen shows you all sides of his personality.  He was a funny man, and there is humor.  He was an introspective man, and he shares his inner thoughts.  He was a compassionate man, and there is much gentility, understanding, and reaching out to all who need help.  This is a wonderful read.  Four and a half stars actually.


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