SACRED HEART CHURCH NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUTWords of Wisdom
I would like to take some quotes from a book written by the beloved Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (Requiescat in Pace). I find these word both enlightening and encouraging. I hope you will find this message advantageous as well.
The quotes come from "THE LIFE OF ALL LIVING, The Philosopy of Life" copyrighted in 1929 by Fulton J. Sheen, Ph.D.,S.T.D. on the Feast of the Epiphany.
This excerpt comes from Chapter Three
The First Law of Life: Expansion
"Our civilization is suffering from a degeneration of the mind. We pride ourselves on being intellectually advanced, and yet if real culture is a knowledge of the truth, then we are less advanced than we were several centuries ago". (mind you, this was written in 1929) He goes on to say, "There is such a thing as ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth." (powerful, words here, I must say)
"Thousands of our educated minds are dedicated to the materialist philosophy which denies that man can rise above a knowledge of earthly things. Sacred Scripture informs us that when the earth passes away there will be no more time, and yet prophets of our day teach us that the only abiding reality is space and time. Realities which cannot be touched are denied. There is said to be no spiritual soul because a scalpel never revealed it; no mysteries in life because never handled in a laboratory; no world beyond this world because never seen through a telescope. And faith, if there be any, means only a hypothesis or a sum of probabilities."
"Besides the degeneration of the mind, there is the degeneration of the body. Our body is no longer hardened to the tasks of life; we fear sacrifices and efforts. We shrink from fasting, pamper our body as if it were a lasting city. Our pushbuttoned, limousined, upholstered age craves for new excitements, new thrills, new shocks. We are jaded before we have come to a man's estate, and the simple things of life no longer please us. There is an overemphasis of sex in modern life." (if he could see things now) "There is a craving for new thought, new psychology, new everything in an attempt to shock and amuse. Now it is degenerated into a study of the subconscious mind-that unthinking cellar part of our mental lives-in an attempt to make us believe that we are better men when we glorify the irrational and have not our wits about us. A more satisfying, richer, fuller life-such is the plea of the modern age.
" And the remedy for this twofold degeneration-degeneration of the mind and degeneration of the body-is the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the remedy for the first because it demands faith; it is the remedy for the second, because it answers the plea for real life and youthfulness. The faith in the Eucharist is the remedy for degeneration.
"Materialism is the foundation for a philosophy, but it is not the final philosopy of life. Faith is an intellectual assent to a truth on the authority of God revealing-and is a gift of God."
He goes on to say so much more of course, but my point is that this I found to be a great reflection for Lent for Many of us. The Eucharist, Christ Himself was given for us. The suffering He endured for us, should require us to make a great effort in our personal lives to come to a better knowledge of our minds,bodies and souls. This is so true as we prepare ourselves spiritually for Lent by fasting, prayer and penance.
I hope you enjoyed the excerpts from the book written by one of the greatest spiritual advisors of our time, Ven. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
posted by Ginny @ 12:15 PM
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