The Babe of Bethlehem

Nov 13

Fulton J. Sheen

Wise men came from the East, perhaps Persia. They saw the Babe -- a Babe whose tiny hands were not quite large enough to touch the huge heads of the cattle, and yet hands that were steering the reins that keep the sun, moon, and stars in their orbits. Shepherds came, and saw baby lips that did not speak, and yet lips that might have articulated the secret of every living man that hour. They saw a baby brow under which was a mind and intelligence compared with which the combined intelligences of Europe and America amount to naught.

One silent night, out over the white-chalked hills of Bethlehem, came a gentle cry. The great ones of the earth did not hear it, for they could not understand how an Infant could be greater than a man. At the Christ Child's birth, only two groups of people heard that cry: the Shepherds, who knew they did not know anything, and the Wise Men, who knew they did not know everything.

Let us reach out at the Holy Christmas season to accept Christ with humility and love.

In the following scene from the 1959 film Ben-Hur, humble Shepherds and kingly Wise Men converge on a stable, where they find the newborn Babe lying quietly in a manger, guarded by his parents and surrounded by gentle livestock.

Fulton John Sheen (1895 – 1979) was an American archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. He was bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in New York from 1966-1969.

For 20 years he hosted the night-time radio program The Catholic Hour (1930–1950) before moving to television and presenting Life Is Worth Living (1951–1957). Sheen’s final presenting role was on the syndicated The Fulton Sheen Program (1961–1968). For this work, Sheen twice won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality.

In June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI officially recognized a decree stating that Fulton J. Sheen had lived a life of “heroic virtues” – a major step towards beatification.