Sheen Beatification Calls Catholics Back to the Eucharist

Catholics around the world are commemorating Corpus Christi today, a feast day celebrating the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. But Corpus Christi is especially significant for American Catholics this year. The Catholic Church has seen “historic” rates of converts at parishes nationwide, while Americans’ belief in the Real Presence and reverence for the Eucharist is steadily climbing. 

This year, the Catholic Church will also formally declare that Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is “Blessed,” i.e., one step away from being the first native born American bishop to become a saint. Sheen’s love for the Eucharist and promotion of the Real Presence should compel all Catholics to similarly prioritize God in our daily lives. 

Before his death at the age of 84, Archbishop Fulton Sheen made history as a famous evangelist, an Emmy-winning television personality, a best-selling author, and a promoter of the Church in the poorest missionary territories around the world. Yet Sheen recognized that the true source of his strength was not his intellect, charisma, or fame. 

It was his daily holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament. 

Catholics believe that the Eucharist is truly the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. They draw this belief from the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6, where Jesus calls Himself the “bread come down from Heaven” and says that “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” 

Even some of Jesus’ earliest followers couldn’t accept this teaching. Thinking that Jesus was promoting something akin to cannibalism, they grumbled that “this teaching is too hard,” and “who can endure it?” Many walked away, Scripture tells us, or abandoned him altogether. 

Yet rather than retracting His teaching, Jesus doubled down. It was this precise moment that planted the first seeds of betrayal in Judas Iscariot, whom Jesus refers to as a “devil.” Satan recognized the power of the Eucharist from the very beginning.

The Devil hated the Eucharist so much that he prompted Judas to betray Jesus just after the Last Supper, where Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The Devil, of course, failed to undo what Jesus had begun. Though Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and ascended into Heaven, Catholics believe that He remains with us in the consecrated Eucharistic hosts. 

Sheen’s recognition of this truth was an integral part of his life and success. 

When he was ordained a priest, Sheen committed to making one continuous Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament every day. He kept this promise until the day he died – despite his busy life and many pressing responsibilities. 

Why? Because Sheen recognized that if the Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ, then everything must be centered around it – not the other way around.

Whether he was travelling, doing missionary work, or preparing his television show (which had 30-million weekly viewers), Sheen showed by example that we should never take our personal relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist for granted. 

Even when travelling, Sheen would make a point of finding churches with Eucharistic adoration. One time, he was accidentally locked in a Chicago church while praying, but found a way out, just as he had found a way in. The lesson? There is always a way to make time for God. 

When Sheen taught at the Catholic University of America, he would stop in the chapel in Caldwell Hall each day to tell the Lord that he loved Him.  And when Sheen retired to his apartment in New York, he set up a room for a chapel.  Even in his last years, he still continued to pray before the Eucharist. That was the place where he died, in his chapel, at the age of 84.

Sheen’s life epitomized the transformative power of prayer. He told many stories of people whose lives were transformed by committing to pray – priests who saved their vocations through prayer, lay people who began going to church more regularly to see Jesus, even Protestant ministers who began committing to an hour of daily prayer.

For Sheen personally, the daily hour he made in prayer was always the best part of his day. 

It taught him to take a break from preaching and other work, to sit instead in silence, letting Our Lord touch his soul. Sheen said that the holy hour is better when we listen to Jesus more than we talk to Him.  We may be tempted to tell Jesus what we want.  However, we profit more if we let Jesus tell us what He wants.

This prayerful silence taught Sheen more about Christ than decades of theological study. His daily holy hours also taught him to rightly order his priorities, while giving him the peace and joy necessary to fulfill God’s work of bringing souls to Heaven.

He powerfully shows us that everyone – no matter who we are – has time to devote daily prayer time to God. He reminds us that the Bread of Life Discourse was Jesus’ invitation to be close to Him in the Blessed Sacrament. Sheen never stopped answering this invitation – on his knees, in the chapel. 

The secret to Sheen’s joy, clarity, and evangelistic power was not fame or intellect, but the quiet hour he spent each day before the Eucharist. His prayerful witness reminds us that the Eucharist is a gift worthy of our time and devotion. 

At Corpus Christi, Catholics should follow Sheen’s example by returning to the Eucharist with renewed faith, reverence, and love. In a restless world searching for meaning, peace and purpose, Jesus still waits for us in the tabernacle – just as He always has.