THE ROCK PLUNGED INTO ETERNITY

by Fulton J. Sheen

"The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Amazing as that is – and it is truly amazing! – perhaps even more amazing is the fact that the Word continues to dwell among us today, no longer in His Physical but in His Mystical Body, the Church. Object of love or hate, admiration or hostility, like Jesus Himself the Church is a sign of contradiction. In confrontation with the Church the thoughts of many hearts are laid bare. This work catalogs the weaknesses and the strengths of this human/divine institution that has weathered the storms of twenty centuries and keeps on fulfilling its mission in the world in spite of the scandals, defections and sins of its members, which have marred its existence from the very beginning. In his inimitable style Bishop Sheen shares with us his unwavering love for the Church notwithstanding all of this, and his reasons for it. Built on the rock-solid faith of St. Peter and the promise of Jesus that the gates of hell would not prevail against it, the Church continues to nourish, protect and lead the members of Christ’s Mystical Body to their eternal home in heaven. Delivered in 1950 against the backdrop of the Church’s ongoing struggle against Communism, these talks show how the Successor of Peter in the papacy continues to face the power of totalitarianism in our day and age as Peter did in his with the only instruments at his disposal, the love and forgiveness of the Lord.