The Woman

By Fulton J. Sheen At the heart of the sun, an immensely vast amount of energy is being set free. In the twentieth century, mankind seized this power for itself, developing atomic and nuclear energy. As with so many of man’s devices, these forces had the ability to improve life—or to destroy it. On May 13, 1917, three Portuguese children were visited by a woman “clothed in white, brighter than the sun.” The woman came to give a warning; she came to give hope. That hope is herself, Our Lady, the Mother of God and Mother of the world. In these twelve addresses, originally delivered from January 7, 1951, to March 25, 1951, Fulton J. Sheen meditates on Mary, the new Eve, and the hope she offers as the link between nature and grace, “the one assurance that we need not be destroyed, for the seat of all atomic fission, the sun, is her toy and plaything. As Christ mediates between God and man, so she mediates between the world and Christ.”  Brimming with filial piety and showing the way to a true devotion to Mary, “the world’s first love,” The Woman is a fresh and inspiring treatment of Mary’s place in the plan of salvation. For the way to Jesus—the life and light of the world—is through the handmaid of the Lord: to her, and not to death, has God entrusted the power of the sun. And now, in heaven, a great portent appeared; a woman that wore the sun for her mantle, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars about her head. (The Apocalypse) Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979), one of the most renowned Catholic priests of the twentieth century, was an eminent scholar, prolific author, and natural entertainer. His cause for canonization was opened in 2002, and in 2012 Pope Benedict XVI declared him “Venerable.”  Paperback: 130pp. ISBN: 978-1685954963