Sixth Word from the Cross: Fulton Sheen and the Declaration of Dependence

National Catholic Register, 2 April 2026

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!

Editor’s note: Father Raymond J. de Souza recorded meditations on the Seven Last Words at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg, New York. They will air on EWTN on Good Friday at 1 p.m. (EDT). They will also be available at ewtn.com and EWTN+. The Register will publish those meditations through Good Friday.

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“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:44-48).

Jesus commends himself into the Father’s hands. How could it be otherwise? He was sent into the world by the Father (John 3:16) and will return to the Father.

Jesus spoke of his crucifixion ahead of time: “So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him’” (John 8:28-29).

Does that sound like dependence upon the Father, or independence from him? To celebrate a “declaration of independence” is not easy for those who seek to follow Jesus.

St. Paul tells us that Jesus “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). Would such a man have signed a declaration of independence?

In 1941, Fulton Sheen published a book entitled A Declaration of Dependence. Sheen worried that a political document, such as the 1776 Declaration of Independence, might become a sort of American gospel, which it was not intended to be.

“Because God made us free, we have rights,” wrote Sheen. “Because God made us creatures, we have duties.”

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