Quotes from Fulton J. Sheen

The crosses from the outside are bearable; the double-crosses inside are insoluble

It was only after Adam and Eve had by sin lost the inner effulgence of grace that they became conscious of the fact that they were naked. They felt the need for clothes to cover their newfound shame; previously their bodies had Glowed with a man mantle of charity woven by the fingers of God. It is almost universally true that excessive external display betrays an inner poverty and nakedness of the soul

Only those who die with Him will live with Him.

God accepts only what His Spirit inspires. We must bring back to God what He has given.

The fall of the priest is completed by these steps: neglect of prayer, withdrawal to a distance from the Eucharistic Lord, dedication to a comfortable existence, negligence concerning occasions of sin and, finally, the substitution of a creature for Christ.

Why is it that the lover of horror cannot stand the sight of the crucifix? Why is it that the fanatics of murder stories are so cold to the story of the world's greatest sacrifice? The answer is that, unlike all other crimes, the crucifix accuses us.

When Whistler was complimented on the portrait of his mother, he said, "You know how it is; one tries to make one's Mummy just as nice as he can.

The son of God chose Peter, who knew sin, rather than the beloved John, as the rock upon which to build His Church, that sinners and the weak might never have excuse to despair.

If sex does not mount to heaven, it descends into hell. There is no such thing as giving the body without giving the soul.

Sharing the Body of Christ in Holy Communion wipes out all accidental distinctions of race, class, or condition. Here we are one with the whole of redeemed humanity...

When Whistler was complimented on the portrait of his mother, he said, "You know how it is; one tries to make one's Mummy just as nice as he can." When God became Man, He too, I believe, would make His Mother as nice as He could—and that would make her a perfect Mother.

The man who says, 'I am so stupid,' instead of 'Lord be merciful to me, I sinner,' is still far from rebirth.

The vision of social amelioration without spiritual regeneration has constituted a temptation to which many important men in history have succumbed completely. But to Him, this would not be adequate service of the Father; there are deeper needs in man than crushed wheat; and there are greater joys than the full stomach.

We give up our time, and get His eternity; we give up our sin, and receive His grace; we give up petty loves, and receive the Flame of Love.

Love is never compelled, except in hell. There, love has to submit to justice.

But where the surrender is to God, we get ourselves back ennobled and enriched.

What have I done to deserve this' if a cry of pride. What did Jesus do? What did Mary do? Let there be no complaint against God for sending a cross; let there only be wisdom enough to see that Nary is there making it lighter, making it sweeter, making it hers

God insists on 'Today.

The stole is a sling in which the priest carries on his shoulder living stones, the burden of the churches, the missions of the entire world. He drags the whole of humanity to the altar, where he joins heaven and earth together. For his hands raised at the Consecration merge into the Hands of Christ in heaven, who 'lives on still to make intercession on our behalf.

The lazy priest always has less time than the zealous priest, because the former is thinking in terms of the interruptions to his leisure, while the latter seeks the opportunity to be another Christ. The priest's time is not his own; it is Our Lord's.

One can well believe that a crown of thorns, and that steel nails were less terrible to the flesh of our Savior than our modern indifference which neither scorns nor prays to the Heart of Christ.

Blessed finally are the poor in spirit intellectually. Blessed are the humble, and the teachable who like the Shepherds know they know nothing, or like the Wise Men who know they do not know everything.

Sex understood in the modern way is Eros-love severed from responsibility; it is desire without obligation. Because it is lawless desire, it is therefore Godless desire. That is why eroticism and atheism always go together.

Finite intelligence needs many words in order to express ideas; but God speaks once and for all within Himself—one single Word which reaches the abyss of all things that are known and can be known. In that Word of God are hidden all the treasures of wisdom, all the secrets of sciences, all the designs of the arts, all the knowledge of mankind.