Fifteen chapters · then the song
Chapter I
The Annunciation
“The birth of the Son of God in the flesh is made to hinge on the consent of a woman.”
Words: Fulton J. Sheen · Painting: Leonardo da Vinci (public domain) · Music: J. S. Bach, played by Kimiko Ishizaka (CC0). Shared, not made.
Chapter II
The Visitation
“Mary rose up and went with all haste…”
Words: Fulton J. Sheen · Painting: Domenico Ghirlandaio (public domain) · Music: J. S. Bach, played by Kimiko Ishizaka (CC0). Shared, not made.
Chapter III
The Nativity
“All love tends to become like that which it loves. God loved man. Therefore He became man.”
Words: Fulton J. Sheen · Painting: Gerard van Honthorst (public domain) · Music: J. S. Bach, played by Kimiko Ishizaka (CC0). Shared, not made.
Chapter IV
The Presentation
“Every child is an arrow shot out of the bow of its mother, but its target is God.”
Words: Fulton J. Sheen · Painting: Master of the Prado Adoration of the Magi (public domain) · Music: J. S. Bach, played by Kimiko Ishizaka (CC0). Shared, not made.
Chapter V
The Finding in the Temple
“There are two kinds of souls in the world. Those who hide from God and those from whom God hides.”
Words: Fulton J. Sheen · Painting: William Holman Hunt (public domain) · Music: J. S. Bach, played by Kimiko Ishizaka (CC0). Shared, not made.
The song · Canticle of MaryLuke 1:46–55
1 Samuel 2Genesis 22Micah 7Luke 1
Magnificat by Harpa Dei. Listen on YouTube(opens in a new tab)
Magnificat anima mea Dominum:
My soul doth magnify the Lord.
et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
1 Sam 2:1Hab 3:18
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae: ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
1 Sam 1:11
Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est: et sanctum nomen ejus.
Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me; and holy is his name.
Ps 111:9
Et misericordia ejus a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.
And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.
Ps 103:17
Fecit potentiam in brachio suo: dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.
He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
Ps 89:10
Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.
1 Sam 2:7–8
Esurientes implevit bonis: et divites dimisit inanes.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
1 Sam 2:5Ps 107:9
Suscepit Israel puerum suum, recordatus misericordiae suae:
He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy:
Isa 41:8–9
Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini ejus in saecula.
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.
Gen 22:17–18Mic 7:20
Where older Scripture sounds through. Hebrew Scriptures cited by modern chapter and verse.
Words: Fulton J. Sheen. Paintings: public domain, named on each chapter. Music: J. S. Bach, Goldberg Variations, Aria. Played by Kimiko Ishizaka, Open Goldberg Variations, released CC0. Captions on every film. Shared, not made.
Father on my back. Son by the hand. The holy things in his arms. Out of the fire.
After Virgil, Aeneid II
Church bells were tuned to soothe. The tower behind them wasn’t. Photo: Sin Know More.
The cry · 1926 · 2026
VIVA CRISTO REY y Nuestra Señora! — the Cristero War song Catholics need today. One hundred years.
VIVA CRISTO REY! by Hussarborn. Listen on YouTube(opens in a new tab)
A question
Fulton J. Sheen asked it on Life is Worth Living. The question still stands: Where are you going, America?
Fulton J. Sheen, Life is Worth Living, Episode 1: “Quo Vadis, America?” · Video: Vision Video on YouTube. Shared, not made. Watch on YouTube(opens in a new tab)
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen content used by permission of St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry and FultonSheen.com
This land
1926 · 1945 · 1962 · 1984 · 2001 · 2026
The flag is not a god. The country is not a church. Both are owed what is theirs. The same Sunday. Different radios.
For the ones who came home and the ones who did not. For the mill town parish that outlasted the mill. For the immigrant who knelt before he could speak the language. A man still has a table, a wife, a shop, a parish — in every decade of the last hundred years.
The pillars
Named at the altar. Not a modern shortlist.
Our Lady. St. Joseph. Peter, Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon, Jude.
Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian.
John the Baptist, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia.
From the Roman Canon of the MassOrdo amoris
St. Augustine, City of God XV.22The house
In a perfect world, the husband leads the family, and he leads it first in prayer.
A father shows his daughter what to look for in a husband. A mother shows her son what to look for in a wife.
A mother and father should let their children see the love between them: the silliness, the affection, the desire for each other. Kids need to feel it and see it, because that is what their future should look like.
A number was never worth your marriage.
The wife is the heart of the home. The children are its blessings.
There is no more important job in the world than raising saints.
“A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather (1972)
“We're taking back Sunday.”
A Sin Know More house lineThe Saints Know More.
Luke 1:46
My soul doth magnify the Lord.
Baltimore Catechism No. 2 · Q. 222–223
Firm but fair
“I was guided by a compass, I saw beauty to the north.”
Dropkick Murphys, “Rose Tattoo” (2013)Which are the chief spiritual works of mercy?
Which are the chief corporal works of mercy?
Tonight
I'm just a regular guy who's gotten lost more than once. I'm the sheep that keeps wandering off, and He keeps coming back for me. No map makes this easy. But this is my true north, and I keep trekking toward it.
“Women have the key because they are the guardians of purity.”
Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, ZENIT interview (2003)
Fun fact: the Church veils what is holiest. The tabernacle wears a veil called the conopaeum, and at the Latin Mass the chalice stays veiled until the Offertory, much like the veil before the Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:33).
Freddie Steinmark
My kids' compass. A real role model. A real American hero.
“No. But he was my All-American.”
Coach Darrell Royal, My All American (2015)
My All American (2015), written and directed by Angelo Pizzo · Watch the trailer ↗
“Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.”
St. Augustine, Confessions I.1
Redeemable.
St. Augustine, pray for America.
