Our four-day Blessed Fulton Sheen pilgrimage began in a city named after a Catholic saint: Saint Louis, Missouri. The group celebrated Mass at Saint Francis Xavier College Church, a magnificent Gothic Revival church completed in 1898, with its beautiful bell tower added later.
The setting was a fitting start. Saint Francis Xavier was born into a prominent aristocratic family in Javier, Spain, and was studying at the University of Paris, then considered the greatest university in the world, when he met Ignatius of Loyola around 1520. Through the Spiritual Exercises, this young nobleman left everything to follow Jesus. Ordained a priest and a member of the Society of Jesus, he traveled with the Portuguese to India to evangelize. There he baptized so many people that his arm gave out from exhaustion. Others would hold his arm as he continued baptizing. He died of exhaustion on the shores of China, longing to evangelize that country as well. His arm is preserved today in the Church of the Gesù in Rome, opposite the tomb of Saint Ignatius.
Fulton Sheen carried that same missionary fire, but into new territory. When radio and then television emerged, the vast majority of people saw only entertainment and news. Sheen saw an opportunity to share Jesus Christ. That burning desire to evangelize wherever people are connects him directly to Saint Francis Xavier’s legacy.
The day’s Gospel reading pointed to the Blessed Virgin Mary. When Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were waiting outside, he responded: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God and act on it.” Far from diminishing Mary, our Lord was pointing to her greatness, for she is the one who heard the Word of God and acted on it par excellence. The Word was literally conceived in her womb. Venerable Fulton Sheen understood the glory of Mary and invites us to a deep devotion to her. As Saint Louis de Montfort taught, Mary is the shortest, quickest, most direct route to Jesus, the one who knew him best and loved him most.
Sheen also had a profound love for the Mass and a deep understanding of Christ as both priest and victim, both shepherd and lamb. Through the crucible of his own suffering, Sheen discovered that Jesus is not only the one who offers, but the one who is offered. This shaped his understanding of the priesthood and his call to all the baptized. When the priest says, “Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours,” we are invited to unite the entirety of our lives to the one saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is participation in the Mass at its deepest level: not simply standing, sitting, kneeling, and responding, but making of our lives an offering united to Christ’s perfect offering to the Father.
Venerable Fulton Sheen still has much to teach us. His beatification is a moment of great grace for the Church. As we continue this pilgrimage, we ask for his intercession: that we might share in his missionary spirit, grow in Marian devotion, and embrace what it means to do what is right and just by uniting ourselves to the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.