Living The Worthy Life- Take A Stand For What Is Right

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

This is the opening sentence of Charles Dickens, 1859 novel, The Tale of Two Cities. It is also a metaphor for the beginning of this article.  Absolutely nothing could possibly be like today- yet could it be?  Consider what Dickens was comparing- the English and the French. At the time of the setting of this novel, they were sworn enemies and conditions of everyday life were much different in each country.  Today this is not the case. Today we might wonder why the hostility? Why could not just get along? For the better part of the past 200 years, the English and French once sworn enemies were allies.  

This is the introduction for this article today.  Today with many young people embracing totalialism and willing to vote for socialists or communists-maybe it would be the perfect time to revisit the writings of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen on this very subject.  Bishop Sheen wrote on this very subject in his 1952 book entitled, Worlds First Love.  In this book he dedicated a chapter to two different visions of the world- one vision was from the Holy Mother- Mary and the other vision was from the father of communism- Karl Marx.  Nothing could be more interesting for the readers of today than to look at the insight of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen on this subject.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF REVOLUTION 

Mary 

[41] Mary begins with the soul and God. "My soul magnifies the 

Lord; my spirit has found joy in God Who is my Saviour." 

The whole universe revolves around these two realities: the 

soul aspiring to an infinity of happiness which God alone 

can supply. 

Marx 

Marx ended the first of his books with the words: "I hate 

all the gods." For Communism there is only matter endowed 

with its own inner contradiction which begets movement. 

Since there is only matter, there is no soul. The belief 

that each man has value, "is founded," said Marx, "on the 

Christian illusion that every man has a soul." 

There is no God, because a belief in God alienates man 

from himself and makes him subject to someone outside self. 

There is no God, but man. "Religion is the Opium of the 

people." 

THE FUTURE OF REVOLUTION 

Mary 

"All generations will count me blessed." She will be an 

exception to the law of forgetfulness, because the Lord of 

History has willed that she be venerated through the centuries. 

History is Providentially determined. The progress and 

fall of civilizations is due to the determined moral ordering of 

human life. Peace is the tranquility of order, and order implies 

justice to God and neighbor. Peace fails when each man seeks 

his own and forgets the love of God and neighbor. 

Marx 

History is dialectically determined. It is not God, nor the 

way men live that decides the progress and decay of civiliza- 

tion, but a law of class conflict which continues until Com- 

munism takes over and classes no longer exist. The future is 

determined by matter. The [42] present generation and all 

the past can look to a remote future where they will dance 

on the grave of their ancestors. Certain classes are destined 

to be the funeral pyre to light future generations, lifting 

clenched fists over the corpse of Lenin. 

FEAR AND REVOLUTION 

Mary 

"He has mercy upon those who fear Him, from generation to 

generation." Fear is here understood as filial, namely, a 

shrinking from hurting one who is loved. Such is the fear 

a son has for a devoted father, and the fear a Christian has of 

Christ. Fear is here related to love. 

Marx 

Communism is founded not on filial but on servile fear, the 

kind of fear a slave has for a tyrant, a worker has for a dic- 

tator. The fear begotten by the revolution is a compulsion 

neurosis, born not of love but power. A revolution which 

destroys filial fear of God always ends in the creation of 

servile fear of man. 

TECHNIQUE OF REVOLUTION 

Both Mary and Marx advocate the exaltation of the poor, the 

dethroning of the proud, the emptying of the rich in favor of the 

socially disinherited, but they differ in their technique. 

Mary 

Violence is necessary. "The Kingdom of Heaven suffers 

violence." But the violence must be against self, against 

its selfishness, greed, lust, and pride. 

The sword that strikes must be thrust inward to rid oneself 

of all that would make one despise neighbor. 

The transfer of wealth, which makes for the prosperity 

of the poor, is inspired by an inner charity which loves God 

and neighbor. 

Man has nothing to lose but the chains of sin, which dark- 

ens his intellect and weakens his will. By throwing off sin 

through the merits of Christ, man becomes a child of God, 

an heir of Heaven, enjoying inner peace in this life and 

even amidst its trials, and an ultimate and final ecstasy of 

love in heaven. 

Marx 

[43] Violence is necessary. But the violence must be against 

neighbor, against those who own, who believe in God, and in 

democracy. Egotism must be disguised as social justice. 

The sword that strikes must be thrust outward to rid society 

of all that would despise a revolution based on hate. 

The transfer of wealth takes place through "violent confisca- 

tion" and the shifting of booty and loot from one man's pocket 

to another. 

Man has nothing to lose but the chains which bind him to 

God and to property. Thanks, then, to atheism and socialism, 

man will be restored to himself as the true god. 

Bishop Sheen´s Comments On Mary

It is remarkable how Mary begins her Magnificat with her 

personal experiences, and soon passes on to identify herself 

with the whole human race. She looks ahead and sees what 

the effect of the birth of Her Son will be to the world, how 

it will improve the whole condition of human life, how it will 

free the oppressed, feed the hungry, and assist the helpless. 

And when she said these words, her Son was not yet born - 

although one would think, from the joy of the song, that He 

[44] was already in her arms. She is singing here a song of pure 

faith about something certain to happen because God will 

make it come true, and not predicting the mere revolution 

of blind material forces. 

There is an intrinsic antagonism between her revolution 

and any other, because hers is based on the true psychology 

of human nature. Hers is based on the existence of an im- 

mense want, so serious and so imperative that every honest 

heart must crave for its satisfaction. Happy are they who 

experience, within themselves, the expelling of pride and 

egotism, and in whom spiritual hunger is fed - who dis- 

cover, before it is too late, that they are poor, and naked, 

and blind, and who seek to clothe themselves with the rai- 

ment of grace which her Son brings.

Why now?  Why this article?  Fret not, we are not lost or are we?  The United States is going through a period of time of major changes and upheavals.  Good people are being drawn into bad things simply because they feel that they have little or no options.  Brothers and Sisters, this is not the truth. You have a choice you know what is right and you know what is wrong.  Look at the words of Bishop Sheen, can you ever pick the words of Karl Marx over the words of Lord Jesus Christ or his mother Mary?  Which makes the most sense to you? Which would you like to follow?  

Do not be deceived.  Do not pay attention to such obviously vile ideas.  Could you really believe that somehow the two systems could peacefully co-exist?  These are words by which I stand, I stand on the side of the Holy Mother and Bishop Fulton Sheen, where do you stand?