The beauty of most spiritual works of mercy is that there is usually no need to go anywhere special or make any big plans; you can just respond to what is in front of you, wherever you are, and frequently God brings the opportunity to perform these works right to you. 

Take, for example, the 7th Spiritual Work of Mercy: praying for others. I am often struck by the humility of women I know asking for prayers for themselves and those they love. I always try to respond right away and later add prayers for these intentions to our family’s nightly ritual. 

Several days ago, on a Facebook thread I was reading, a woman I do not know asked for prayers for her husband. I felt an unusually strong urge to pray for her husband, the father of five, who had been diagnosed with an incurable malignant tumor on his pancreas and liver.

Later, I learned that this man is Mark Buettner, the brother of our previous parish priest, Fr. Matthew Buettner. The Buettners are from Peoria, Illinois, which is known as the hometown of Venerable Fulton Sheen. A short time later, I received the request from a local friend to join my prayers for Mark Buettner to prayers for his healing being offered through the intercession of Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

No wonder I felt such an urge to pray for him.  

You see, we are long-time Sheen fans. Over twenty years ago, he was very helpful in my reversion and my husband’s conversion to Catholicism, and to this day I have his audio CDs in my car. As a family whose livelihood is fully founded on spreading the word of God through the media, Venerable Fulton Sheen is, of course, an inspiration to us.

He keeps popping up in our lives. A couple of years ago we were taking a circuitous route to a conference and suddenly found ourselves passing right through Peoria, so we stopped hoping to get to Mass in a beautiful church we could see just off the highway. It turned out to be St. Mary’s Cathedral. We parked the van in a nearly empty parking lot and tried all the doors. All were locked up tight. Then someone opened a door and offered to let us in. Turned out it was closed for renovations, but we were allowed inside by the construction manager–and he excitedly pointed out the side altar that was being prepared in the hopes of receiving…Venerable Fulton Sheen’s body for his beatification. We have closely followed the process of his cause ever since. And on the way back to the highway, all the kids wanted to visit the museum nearby which was dedicated to the life and work of Fulton Sheen. (That’s where the picture at the top of this blog post was taken–with a life-sized photograph of the man!)

There has already been one miracle attributed to Venerable Fulton Sheen. It took place on September 16, 2010, in Peoria. James Fulton Engstrom (a baby whom the parents had already decided to name after the famous evangelist) was stillborn and could not be revived. As the ordeal unfolded, the parents and friends urgently prayed for James through the intercession of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. After 61 minutes of cardiac arrest and oxygen deprivation, just before the doctors were to pronounce James dead, his little heart suddenly started to beat for the first time. Due to the complete lack of oxygen, the doctors gave James a terrible medical diagnosis of severe and crippling brain damage. That medical expectation never materialized; to this day, James continues to develop like a normal child. Medical experts have declared that James’ recovery and development could not be explained through any scientifically known natural cause, and theologians have declared that James’ full recovery is a miracle through the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. 

Please join us in praying for another miracle through the intercession of Venerable Fulton Sheen for Mark Buettner. This is a wonderful spiritual work of mercy which you can do for this precious family right in your own home, with your own children. Please click on the download to the right and print it out to share with family, friends, your parish.

Prayer to obtain healing for Mark Buettner through the intercession of the Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Eternal Father, You alone grant us every blessing in Heaven and on earth through the redemptive mission of Your Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and by the working of the Holy Spirit. If it be according to Your Will, glorify Your servant, Fulton J. Sheen, by granting the favor I now request through his prayerful intercession – for the complete, miraculous physical and spiritual healing of Mark Buettner. I make this prayer confidently through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us!