Fulton Sheen Beatification: September 24, 2026

    

 Below is an excerpt from the introduction to Praying in the Presence of the Lord with Fulton Sheen , edited by Michael Dubruiel, originally published in 2002. 

Excerpts from the book will be published in this space over the next few weeks, in honor of Archbishop Sheen's beatification on September 24, 2026. 

Members of Christ's Body (3)

If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. 1 CORINTHIANS 12:26 (NAB)

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Spend some time reflecting on the following:

1. Ask God to make you aware of who needs to be prayed for today. Remember both the living and the dead. Call to mind the person as you ask God to bless that particular individual.

2. Reflect on whose prayers may be responsible for your own faith. Spend some time giving thanks to God for the people of faith who have passed on the faith to you. Ask God for the grace to imitate them.

3. Meditating on the image that Bishop Sheen presents in his story of someone needing a skin graft or blood transfusion, imagine that certain parts of the Mystical Body, the Church, might be in need of similar aid. What images present themselves to you? Ask God for the grace of healing to come upon the Church wherever it is needed.

Prayer

Lord, give me a living sense of the Church as your Mystical Body. Help me to feel the pain and the needs of others so that I may respond to them as I would my own. Amen.

Fulton Sheen Beatification: September 24, 2026

   

 Below is an excerpt from the introduction to Praying in the Presence of the Lord with Fulton Sheen , edited by Michael Dubruiel, originally published in 2002. 

Excerpts from the book will be published in this space over the next few weeks, in honor of Archbishop Sheen's beatification on September 24, 2026. 

Members of Christ's Body (2)

If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. 1 CORINTHIANS 12:26 (NAB)

Reflection

There is perhaps no greater way to share in the redemptive work of Christ than by praying for others. Using the image of the physical body, Bishop Sheen reminds us of how one part of the body can help another part, so too he says in the Mystical Body of Christ. Our prayer can have a positive effect on others, often in ways that we may never know.

Most people know that Dorothy Day was a pacifist, but I doubt many know why. Her beliefs were based on the Baltimore Catechism, which had taught her that every baptized person was a temple of the Holy Spirit. She reasoned that if that were so, then she could never support the physical attack of places where human beings who were both actual and potential temples of the Holy Spirit resided.

But Dorothy's pacifism was not passive. In fact, she once stated, "If we are not going to use our spiritual weapons, let us by all means arm and prepare." She believed in the power of God's ability to do what was humanly impossible, namely to bring about peace. Do we divide the world into friend or foe? Or do we see all people as actual and potential members of the Body of Christ?

We share in Our Lord's redemptive work when we use the spiritual weapons that He has put at our disposal to combat the real enemy of all - the devil. In the same way that we might donate blood to help someone in desperate need of a transfusion, let us donate our prayers to those in most need of the Blood of Christ.

 

Fulton Sheen Beatification: September 24, 2026

  

 Below is an excerpt from the introduction to Praying in the Presence of the Lord with Fulton Sheen , edited by Michael Dubruiel, originally published in 2002. 

Excerpts from the book will be published in this space over the next few weeks, in honor of Archbishop Sheen's beatification on September 24, 2026. 

Members of Christ's Body (1)

If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. 1 CORINTHIANS 12:26 (NAB)

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Bishop Sheen

In medicine, when a patient is suffering from anemia, blood will be transferred from a healthy person to cure the sick of that condition. Skin is grafted from the back to the face to repair a burn. If blood can be transfused and skin grafted, then prayers and sacri- fices can be transmitted to the sick members of the Mystical Body of Christ. The motivation for a Holy Hour is reparation. We pray for those who do not pray, we make acts of faith in the Real Presence for those who lack or who have lost the faith. In a word, we are their victims, like Christ, innocent but one with their guilt in the progressive redemption of mankind.

From Those Mysterious Priests

Michael Dubruiel on the Jesus Prayer

  -by Michael Dubruiel

 

Since the time of early Christianity, there have been forms
of prayer that use breathing as a cadence for prayer. The Jesus
Prayer and the Rosary, along with various forms of contemplative
prayer, are all variations of this type of prayer. The real prayer
behind all of these methods is the prayer of surrender: “Into
your hands I commend my spirit.” This was the prayer that Jesus
prayed to the Father from the cross.

Though confession alone does not remove the temporal penalty
of sin, healing still is possible by God’s grace. Prayer, reading the
Scripture, giving alms, doing good works all are acts that have
had indulgences attached to them by the Church. By obtaining
an indulgence, the Christian receives healing from the temporal
penalty of even the gravest sins, reducing or eliminating altogether
the time of purification needed in purgatory (CCC 1471).

Ideally, the Christian is motivated to perform these spiritual
exercises not from fear of punishment but out of love for God.
As we read in the preceding passage, St. Paul tells the Ephesians
to offer themselves as a spiritual sacrifice with Christ, who has
paid the debt of our sins. Seeing Christ on the cross and meditating
on his love for us should help us to understand how much
God loves

Michael Dubruiel: Book on Catholic Social Teaching

      

To help emphasize the role of the Works of Mercy in the Life of the Christian!

  Here are Michael Dubruiel's comments on the genesis of the book, which he edited:

While the Bishop and Father Benedict were working on the written text of the book I came across a stunning work of iconography one day while visiting an Eastern Catholic church. On the back wall of the church was an icon of the Last Judgment taken from Matthew 25. I found that the great iconographer Mila Mina had written the icon. I immediately contacted Mila and asked if the icon might be used as an illustration for this book, her response was "anything to make the Gospel known!" Thanks to Mila and her son Father John Mina for allowing Joyce Duriga and David Renz to photograph the icon at Ascension of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church, Clairton, PA.

Fr. Groeschel has written the introductory text that begins each section as well as the final "What Should I Do?" at the end of the book, and Bishop Baker has written the individual meditations and prayers contained in each of the six sections.