Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Page: Quotes
We can think of Lent as a time to eradicate evil or cultivate virtue, a time to pull up weeds or to plant good seeds. Which is better is clear, for the Christian ideal is always positive rather than negative. A person is great not by the ferocity of his hatred of evil, but by the intensity of his love for God. Asceticism and mortification are not the ends of a Christian life; they are only the means. The end is charity. Penance merely makes an opening in our ego in which the Light of God can pour. As we deflate ourselves, God fills us. And it is God’s arrival that is the important event.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Page: Quotes
Lenten practices of giving up pleasures are good reminders that the purpose of life is not pleasure. The purpose of life is to attain to perfect life, all truth and undying ecstatic love – which is the definition of God. In pursuing that goal we find happiness. Pleasure is not the purpose of anything; pleasure is a by-product resulting from doing something that is good. One of the best ways to get happiness and pleasure out of life is to ask ourselves, ‘How can I please God?’ and, ‘Why am I not better?’ It is the pleasure-seeker who is bored, for all pleasures diminish with repetition.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Page: Quotes
It isn’t hard to put up with others’ foibles when we realize how much God has put up with from us.
— Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Page: Quotes
Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is timing, it waits on the right time to act, for the right priciples and in the right way.
— Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Page: Quotes
It is not what is done, but why it is done that matters.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Page: Quotes
Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right.
–Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
