The absolute essence of this sermon is that the Incarnation is not a finished historical event, but a profound and continuing reality in the life of every believer, most especially in the priesthood. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen challenges the listener to move beyond seeing the birth of Christ as a distant memory and to understand it as an ongoing invitation from God. Just as the angel asked Mary, "Will you give God a man?", God now turns to each of us with the same question: "Will you give me a human nature?" This is the core of our vocation—to offer our minds, wills, and bodies as instruments through which Christ can continue His teaching, governing, and sanctifying mission in the world today.

To illustrate how this works, Sheen employs a powerful analogy of a pencil. A pencil is only "good" when it is supple and adaptable in the hand of the writer, perfectly fulfilling its purpose. If the pencil had a will of its own and refused to write what the author intended, it would become useless. In the same way, our effectiveness as ambassadors for Christ is entirely dependent on our pliability and obedience in His hands. Our power, influence, and ability to sanctify come not from our own talents, but from our total surrender, allowing Christ to act through us.

This great mystery, Sheen concludes, is the foundation of the priesthood and the call of every Christian life. By offering our humanity to God, we become part of this continuing Incarnation. Our singular purpose, then, is to make Christ lovable to others through our kindness, our patience, our charity, and our gentle courtesy. This, he states, is the very definition of a saint: a person through whom others can see and fall in love with Christ. We are called to be the human nature through which God once again walks the earth.

Bishop Fulton Sheen begins by identifying a common pitfall in the spiritual life: a tendency to pray only in times of material need. He challenges the listener to move beyond merely seeking favors from God—the "pennies in his hand"—and to instead cultivate a deep, personal relationship. To guide this journey, he outlines three distinct kinds of prayer: lip prayer, head prayer, and heart prayer. Lip prayer, he explains, is vocal prayer—the rote recitation of words without deep thought. While it has its place, it is only the first step.

The second and more profound level is head prayer, or meditation. Bishop Sheen passionately urges his audience, especially the laity, to embrace this practice, which modern society has largely abandoned in its flight from silence into noise. He teaches that true meditation begins by quieting the mind, taking up the Scriptures, and allowing the life and words of Christ to penetrate the soul. He uses the beautiful story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus to illustrate this process: at first, Christ is a stranger to them, but as He opens the Scriptures, their understanding deepens until they finally recognize Him in the breaking of the bread.

The ultimate goal, however, is heart prayer, which is the prayer of love. This is a state of being where one carries the atmosphere of God with them constantly, so that every action—whether work, study, or daily chores—becomes an extension of their prayer. Drawing on the profound story of a man whose simple act of putting a chair for Christ eventually led him to a life of prayer, Sheen explains that heart prayer transcends words. It is a state of being in love with God, where every moment is an opportunity to please Him. It is in this kind of prayer, he concludes, that we move beyond asking for things and begin to truly know the God who is love itself.

The central truth and profound importance of this sermon for the listener is that our human fragility is not a barrier to holiness, but the very vessel God has chosen to contain His divine treasure. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen masterfully uses the Apostle Paul's analogy of being "pots of earthenware" to reassure us that our weaknesses, imperfections, and even our failures are part of God's plan. He emphasizes that the transcendent power we possess as Christians comes not from ourselves, but from God alone, so that no one can boast in their own strength. This understanding frees the listener from the burden of seeking perfection and instead invites them to embrace their humble nature as a "pot" that can be filled with grace.

Expanding on this theme, Sheen explains that the spiritual life is a process of being shaped and reshaped by the Divine Potter. He points out that just as the apostles were flawed, impetuous, and doubting men, God does not demand flawless vessels. Instead, he uses our personal struggles and even our sins as opportunities to mold us. When we feel "broken," God does not discard us; rather, he places us back on the wheel to form us into something new. This insight reframes suffering and failure not as signs of divine abandonment, but as the active, loving hand of God working to purify our souls.

The sermon culminates with a powerful reflection on the gift of celibacy, presenting it as a specific way that certain "earthenware vessels" are set apart for God. Sheen traces the biblical roots of this consecration, showing how it has always been linked to moments of intense divine closeness—such as when God was about to appear on the mountain, during holy wars, or at the dedication of the Temple. He refutes modern sociological arguments against the male priesthood by grounding its foundation in the divine nuptial order established in creation, then fulfilled in the new covenant between Christ the Bridegroom and his Bride, the Church. The priest, in this divine plan, acts in the person of Christ, the one who gives the "seed" of the Word, while the feminine role symbolizes the Church, which receives, nurtures, and brings that Word to life. In this way, all are called to a form of spiritual begetting, recognizing that true fulfillment comes not from asserting our own will, but from allowing the "expulsive power of a great affection" for Christ to drive out our lesser loves, making our lives a testament to the treasure we hold within.

In this profound and transformative teaching, Bishop Fulton Sheen dismantles the rigid and often sterile methods of prayer that can hinder a true relationship with God. He argues that many formal techniques are "post-factum"—they analyze the prayer of saints after the fact, but they cannot produce the initial spark of love. Instead, he proposes a three-stage spiritual journey. The first and most crucial stage is "Escape." This is not a flight from reality, but an escape from the noise of the world and the chatter of our own ego into a deep, interior silence. It is in this stillness, he explains, that we prepare the "house of God" within us, making it possible to truly hear His voice.

The second stage, which Bishop Sheen calls "Inscape," is the heart of the relationship with God. This is where one is "caught up in the cloak of God," moving beyond formal words into a state of profound, personal communion. This intimacy, he reveals, can take many forms, including groaning, complaining, and even wrestling with God, as Jacob did with the angel. This is not a polite, distant conversation but an authentic, all-consuming struggle of love where we hold onto God and refuse to let Him go. It is in this stage of being "caught up" that our true transformation begins.

The final stage is to "Sacramentalize" our lives. Having escaped the world and entered into deep union with God, we are then called to go back out and make our entire existence a sacred act. Bishop Sheen powerfully illustrates this with the story of a humble street cleaner who understood that pushing his broom with a great love of God was a holier act than a bishop attending a council with less love. In this final step, every mundane task—from work to family life—becomes an extension of our prayer, turning the whole world into a stage for God's grace and making us living sacraments of His presence.

The absolute essence of this masterful teaching is the profound and revolutionary intimacy with God that Jesus revealed to humanity through the "Our Father." Bishop Fulton J. Sheen explains that this is not merely a prayer to be recited, but a blueprint for our entire relationship with the divine. For the listener, this address transforms the most familiar Christian prayer from a formal text into a deeply personal conversation, revealing that we are not servants of a distant master, but beloved children invited to call the creator of the universe "Abba"—a word of childlike affection akin to "Daddy." This single insight reframes our understanding of prayer, worship, and our own identity as adopted children of God.

Sheen systematically unpacks each petition, revealing its spiritual depth. He illustrates that "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done" is a prayer to align our own horizontal, earthly will with God's vertical, heavenly will, forming a cross in our lives. "Give us this day our daily bread" is shown to be a plea not just for physical sustenance, but for the "super-substantial bread" of the Eucharist. The lesson on forgiveness is stark and clear: it is a reciprocal act. We place a limit on God's mercy to us by the limits we place on our mercy to others, for God cannot pour forgiveness into a closed and resentful heart.

Finally, Sheen clarifies that "lead us not into temptation" is not a suggestion that God tempts us, but a humble plea for Him not to test us beyond our strength. The prayer concludes with a powerful request for protection, "Deliver us from the evil one," a direct acknowledgment of the reality of Satan and our need for divine deliverance. The prayer thus becomes a complete spiritual journey, beginning with the loving adoration of "Abba," moving through petitions for our divine and human needs, and ending with a plea for protection, perfectly encapsulating the life of faith.

In this deeply personal and insightful talk, Bishop Fulton Sheen introduces the Greek word "skolop," which he defines as a handicap, frustration, pain, or disappointment—a "stake" or "thorn in the flesh" that every person carries. Drawing from the example of St. Paul, Sheen explains that God allows these skolops in our lives not to crush us, but to teach us a profound spiritual lesson. The central theme of his address is that it is not what happens to us in life that defines us, but rather how we react to it. He argues that God speaks to us not primarily through words, but through events, and our personal "skolops" are often the very language He uses to reveal His will and guide our path.

To illustrate this point, Sheen shares a series of powerful and moving stories. He recounts his own experience as a young altar boy who, after breaking a cruet in the presence of his bishop, received a startling prophecy about his future that came true decades later. He then tells the remarkable story of psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, a Jewish survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, who found his life's direction in a fragment of the Ten Commandments salvaged from his burned synagogue. These stories of acceptance and obedience are contrasted with the tragic tale of Tito, the future communist dictator of Yugoslavia, whose life was set on a path of rebellion after being harshly dismissed by a priest for a similar mistake in his youth.

Bishop Sheen concludes with a powerful call to embrace our personal trials as a means of sanctification. He critiques the modern ethos of "doing your own thing," explaining that true freedom and happiness are found not in self-affirmation but in conforming our will to God's. He reassures his listeners that if they were to see all the crosses of the world piled together, they would invariably choose to pick up their own familiar one. The key, he teaches, is to accept our unique "skolop" with love and to see it not as a meaningless burden, but as our personal share in the Cross of Christ, through which we find our ultimate purpose and redemption.

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen masterfully uses the biblical image of the potter and the clay to illustrate the profound truth that our imperfect, fragile human nature is the chosen vessel for God's divine treasure. The essence of his message is one of profound hope: our weakness, ugliness, and failures are not obstacles to God, but rather the very material He works with. Sheen explains that God allows trials and tribulations in our lives—likening them to pouring wine from one vessel to another—not to punish us, but to purify us by separating the "dregs" and "lees" of our imperfections, making our souls richer and more pleasing to Him.

Sheen further develops this analogy by exploring what happens when the vessel is "spoiled in the potter's hands"—a powerful metaphor for human sin and failure. He reveals that God, unlike a human craftsman, does not discard the broken clay in frustration. Instead, the Divine Potter patiently picks up the failed vessel, reworks it on His wheel, and lovingly molds it into a new creation. While it may not be the grand "vase" originally intended, it becomes a beautiful and useful pot, still capable of holding His grace, demonstrating God's unwavering and redemptive love for us even in our brokenness.

The ultimate destiny of the "pot" is revealed through the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. After encountering Christ and recognizing Him as the source of "living water," she immediately "leaves her pot behind" to share the good news. This, Sheen explains, is a symbol of our own journey. At the moment of death, we will leave our earthly vessel—our body—behind, as our soul, the true treasure, goes to God. The pot is not forgotten, however, as Sheen concludes that on the last day, even our physical body will be glorified and transformed, perfectly reflecting the divine life it once contained.

With his signature blend of humor, wit, and profound insight, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen addresses a young audience on the urgent topics of freedom, morality, and love. He begins by humorously recounting anecdotes about his clerical attire before drawing a sharp contrast between the past—a time of trust and safety—and the modern world. Sheen argues that a critical turning point was the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, an event that symbolically erased moral boundaries and ushered in an era defined by the selfish philosophy of "I gotta be me, I gotta be free," which he contends leads not to happiness, but to chaos.

The core of the address focuses on the true meaning of sex, which Sheen defines as a profound mystery and a sacrament. He explains that it is far more than a physical act; it is a sacred participation in God’s creative power and a living symbol of the sacrificial love between Christ and the Church. In a key piece of practical advice, he highlights the fundamental difference in how men and women love: a man can be drawn to a part of a woman, whereas a woman loves the whole person. This, he warns, is why young women must be wise and understand that true love requires commitment and cannot be found in partial, fleeting affection.

Concluding his talk, Bishop Sheen offers guidance on navigating a world of fading belief. He suggests that when people reject faith, it is often a cover for an underlying moral struggle rather than a purely intellectual problem. He passionately encourages the young women to embrace an "apostolate of beauty," where their virtue makes them truly attractive, and he reminds the entire audience that they are the future of the Church. His message is a powerful call for youth to reject the emptiness of license and instead embrace the challenging, joyful, and ordered life of true freedom found in faith and moral discipline.

Bishop Fulton Sheen begins this profound meditation by introducing the theological concept of kenosis, or God "emptying Himself." To illustrate the sheer magnitude of this act, he uses a startling analogy: imagine the humility required for a human to put their soul into the body of a dog, limiting their expression to barking and their actions to instinct. The distance between God and man is infinitely greater, yet this is precisely what Christ did. By becoming a slave and taking on human flesh, God humbled Himself in a way that is almost incomprehensible, laying the foundation for our redemption by choosing to experience our limitations and frailties.

The core of Christ's mission, Sheen explains, was the "transfer" of humanity's burdens onto Himself. He breaks this down into three categories of evil: physical, mental, and moral. Christ took on our physical ills not by being sick, but by feeling our pain through a deep, divine sympathy, which is why He "sighed" and "wept" before performing miracles. He took on our mental ills—our doubts, loneliness, and despair—by crying out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", making our darkest question His own. Most importantly, He took on our moral ill of sin, illustrated by the powerful story of a soldier on the Burma Road who falsely took the blame for a missing shovel to save his comrades from execution, just as the innocent Christ took our guilt upon Himself.

Ultimately, Bishop Sheen calls the listener to participate in this redemptive work. Just as Christ transferred our burdens, we are called to transfer the burdens of others onto ourselves through prayer and sacrifice. Using the moving example of a prostitute who returned to the confessional after he asked hundreds of penitents to pray for her, he demonstrates the real-world power of intercession. The Christian life, therefore, is not a passive admiration of a teacher, but an active relationship with a Savior. The path to this relationship is through the Gospels, where we come to know the person of Christ and begin to understand the depths of His self-emptying love for us.

Bishop Sheen begins this profound meditation by introducing the theological concept of kenosis, or God "emptying Himself." To illustrate the sheer magnitude of this act, he uses a startling analogy: imagine the humility required for a human to put their soul into the body of a dog, limiting their expression to barking and their actions to instinct. The distance between God and man is infinitely greater, yet this is precisely what Christ did. By becoming a slave and taking on human flesh, God humbled Himself in a way that is almost incomprehensible, laying the foundation for our redemption by choosing to experience our limitations and frailties.

The core of Christ's mission, Sheen explains, was the "transfer" of humanity's burdens onto Himself. He breaks this down into three categories of evil: physical, mental, and moral. Christ took on our physical ills not by being sick, but by feeling our pain through a deep, divine sympathy, which is why He "sighed" and "wept" before performing miracles. He took on our mental ills—our doubts, loneliness, and despair—by crying out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", making our darkest question His own. Most importantly, He took on our moral ill of sin, illustrated by the powerful story of a soldier on the Burma Road who falsely took the blame for a missing shovel to save his comrades from execution, just as the innocent Christ took our guilt upon Himself.

Ultimately, Bishop Sheen calls the listener to participate in this redemptive work. Just as Christ transferred our burdens, we are called to transfer the burdens of others onto ourselves through prayer and sacrifice. Using the moving example of a prostitute who returned to the confessional after he asked hundreds of penitents to pray for her, he demonstrates the real-world power of intercession. The Christian life, therefore, is not a passive admiration of a teacher, but an active relationship with a Savior. The path to this relationship is through the Gospels, where we come to know the person of Christ and begin to understand the depths of His self-emptying love for us.