This inspiring story was posted on the Totus Tuus Fb page today: 'Meet Little Li, the brave 10-11 year old girl from 1950s Communist China. When soldiers desecrated her church, imprisoned the priest, and scattered the Blessed Sacrament on the floor like trash... most people stayed away in fear. But not Little Li. Every day, this courageous child sneaked into the locked church, knelt in silent adoration for a full hour (preparing her heart), then reverently consumed one Host from the floor with her tongue—saving Jesus from further sacrilege. She did this again and again... until the last Host remained. On that final day, a soldier caught her. He shot her. Yet even as she fell, wounded, she crawled forward, pressed her tongue to the floor, and received her Lord one last time before dying. Her heroic love for Jesus in the Eucharist moved hearts across the world. A little mustard seed of faith that grew into a towering tree of inspiration. "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24) Little Li, pray for us—especially for those facing persecution for their faith today."
When privileged to baptize a female, especially a babe or young girl, I will include the story of Little Li in my homily.
Thanks AED, I hadn't heard of Little Li before reading this piece and didn't know that Bishop Sheen had spoken about her. Her story is very inspiring and Bishop Sheen himself seems to have been inspiring in his own way. I still don't know a lot about him but do remember that there were some of his books at home when I was growing up. Padraig recommended his biography a while back but haven't got to read it yet.
Wonderful. http://www.cardinalkungfoundation.org/ar/LetTheSonShineOut.php A couple of months before his death he was interviewed on national television. One of the questions was this: "Bishop Sheen, you have inspired millions of people all over the world. Who inspired you? Was it a Pope?" Bishop Sheen responded that it was not a Pope, a Cardinal, another Bishop, or even a priest or a nun. It was a little Chinese girl of eleven years of age. He explained that when the Communists took over China, they imprisoned a priest in his own rectory near the Church. After they locked him up in his own house, the priest was horrified to look out of his window and see the Communists proceed into the Church, where they went into the sanctuary and broke into the tabernacle. In an act of hateful desecration, they took the ciborium and threw it on the floor with all of the Sacred Hosts spilling out. The priest knew exactly how many Hosts were in the ciborium: thirty-two. When the Communists left, they either did not notice, or didn't pay any attention to a small girl praying in the back of the Church who saw everything that had happened. That night the little girl came back. Slipping past the guard at the priest's house, she went inside the Church. There she made a holy hour of prayer, an act of love to make up for the act of hatred. After her holy hour she went into the sanctuary, knelt down, bent over and with her tongue received Jesus in Holy Communion, since it was not permissible at that time for laymen to touch the Sacred Host with their hands. The little girl continued to come back each night to make her holy hour and receive Jesus in Holy Communion on her tongue. On the thirty-second night, after she had consumed the last and thirty-second host, she accidentally made a noise and woke the guard who was sleeping. He ran after her, caught her, and beat her to death with the butt of his rifle. This act of heroic martyrdom was witnessed by the priest as he watched grief-stricken from his bedroom window. When Bishop Sheen heard the story he was so inspired that he promised God he would make a holy hour of prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament everyday of his life. If this little Chinese girl could risk her life everyday to express her love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament with a holy hour and Holy Communion, then, at the very least, the Bishop thought he should do the same. If this frail, little child could give testimony and witness to the world concerning the real and wonderful Presence of her Savior in the Blessed Sacrament, then the Bishop was absolutely bound by all that was right and true, to do the same. Bishop Sheen, henceforth, would not be afraid to speak out on the love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. His sole desire from then on was to bring the world to the Burning Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The little girl showed the Bishop what true courage and zeal really is; how faith could overcome all fear, how true love for Jesus in the Eucharist must transcend life itself.
Has anyone the recording of sheen telling this story ?. I heard him tell it so beautifully many years ago but I cannot find it now.I would love to hear him again .I bought the book from amazon for my kids they love it.
I was trying to find some Audio or Video of Bishop Sheen telling this wonderful story. Haven't found it so far, but will try some more later. I did find an interesting article about the variations of the story, over the years. Link below: https://benedictinstitute.org/2021/06/little-li-the-child-martyr-of-the-eucharist-in-china/
