Hajja Salesjana April-June 2020

Every now and then, great people walk the earth who make a powerful contribution to humanity. They come from all walks of life and often they reveal that their real gift was inspired by an experience they had of someone else, whose words or heroic deeds touched them so profoundly that their lives took on a direction they may not otherwise have chosen. Such a person was the late great American Bishop, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, now on the way to canonization. For the entire 60 years of his priesthood, Archbishop Sheen never failed to make a daily holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament. His life, particularly his weekly TV program “Life is Worth Living,” touched the lives of over 30 million Americans – Catholics, protestants and even those of no Faith at all…. When the Archbishop was interviewed on national television a few months before his death, he was asked: “You’ve inspired millions. Who inspired you? His answer took many by surprise. Bishop Sheen responded “The one who inspired me was a little Chinese girl.” Just imagine, a girl whose love for Jesus in the Eucharist so impressed him, that Archbishop Sheen, when he was only a seminarian, promised God he would make a holy hour before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament every day. The story of this brave little girl, Li, brings us back to the early 1950’s, to Communist China where the name of God was outlawed and people practicing their faith were imprisoned, tortured or killed by the communists. A nun, Sr. Emmanuel wrote about her in “The Amazing Story of Little Li,” from her book The Hidden Child. In school, children diligently recited their prayers. Their teacher, Sr. Euphrasia, was pleased because two months earlier they had received their First Holy Communion and took it very seriously. The children were used to eating rice morning, noon and evening so little 10 year old Li asked her why Jesus didn’t say “Give us this day our daily rice?” Sister smiled. “Well, bread means Eucharist.” She explained that we need rice for the body, but that in asking for this bread we are asking for Holy Communion, the food for the soul and the 20 H AJJA S ALESJANA Li, , a precious , little known , modern day ma rty r for theEucha rist Photo: Emile Guillemot at www.unsplash.com