By Jay Sorgi
for the Register
A new children’s book is, its author says, more than just a children’s book, but an illustrated book for everyone to encounter the Eucharist, written to honor a late Diocese of Lincoln priest. The author believes miracles through the Blessed Sacrament and the passing of that priest led to her writing this work, among her 10 published books.
Susan Joy Bellavance, an author, a Catholic educator and former member of the Missionaries of Charity, has written and released “This Little Light of Thine,” a work which spotlights the power of the Eucharist, for which she has a passionate love.
“Our Lord is present in the tabernacle,” Bellavance said. “This book makes Catholics understand Jesus is in the tabernacle at a glance, and I write for parents who have to read to their children.”
She said the book happened through the journey of Father Ferdinand Boehme, a priest with a powerful love of the Eucharist who served the Lincoln Diocese for 27 years before his death in 2024.
Bellavance was asked by a friend to pray for Father Boehme as he was battling cancer. She was praying for a Lincoln-based priest, even as she lived at the time in New Hampshire and now lives in Virginia.
“I’m at Mass every day and then I get a call (saying) things are really bad. I’m praying and praying,” she said about the day of his death, June 23, 2024.
“As the priest is elevating the chalice, I’m praying with my whole heart and soul. During Mass, I heard a vibration from a text. After Mass, I turned the phone over and I had the text that Father Ferd had died at the beginning of my Mass. I was ecstatic. I was so happy. He made it. He’s home. He’s safe.”
Bellavance said Father Boehme’s passing to God happened with the Blessed Sacrament present to him at his deathbed, something she found out through Father Joseph Steele, who serves at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln.
“Father Ferd said, ‘If I go to the hospital, will I be able to die (with) the Blessed Sacrament?’” Bellavance said. He was told no, but Father Steele said he put in a hospital bed for Father Boehme at his rectory, and he stayed there for a month until his dying day.
“Father said the Mass and at the end, he knew something was happening,” said Bellavance.
“He started his rosary. At the announcement of the Resurrection, the first glorious mystery, Father Ferd left. He went home right at the Resurrection. Here’s a priest with Jesus in him. He just received Communion. He did the Precious Blood on a spoon.”
That morning, Bellavance then immediately prayed to God through this priest whom she had never met.
“‘I’m happy to meet you,’” she said of her prayer. “I’m doing a book on the Eucharist for little kids. I don’t have any money for the illustrator and good ones cost thousands of dollars.’ And I said, ‘You’ve got to do this for me. You’ve got to get me that money so I can get this book, and then you have to help me get it published.’”
Three hours later, Bellavance got a phone call.
“My pastor said, ‘Come up. I’m going to invite some friends for dinner. Bring all your books,’” she said.
“I showed the words and the pictures. I’m showing this to this man and his wife. He said, ‘What do you need?’ And I told him. He wrote the check.”
That donation fulfilled the entirety of what she needed to produce a book that visualizes tabernacles in churches throughout the United States, from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to parishes in Steubenville, Ohio, Chicago, Texas and California.
The book uses the motif of light and the stories of Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth and the birth of Christ to help spotlight Him in the Eucharist.
“It shines like the Star of Bethlehem. We put the Star of Bethlehem in the sanctuary because Jesus is here, and it shows him being here in the tabernacle,” said Bellavance.
“It shines like the flame of love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pregnant Mary. And I put her Immaculate Heart in the tabernacle light because Jesus is here. It leaps like John the Baptist in his mother’s womb. We put John the Baptist as an embryo leaping in the same sanctuary because Jesus is here, and it waves the flame.”
The book depicts a young boy holding his hand on his heart as the tabernacle is open.
“He goes, ‘Jesus, I love you,’” Bellavance said.
“‘This little light of thine. Tell me, why does it shine? It shines like the star of Bethlehem because Jesus is here.’”
The book was published by Sophia Institute Press, and Bishop James Conley of Lincoln wrote a letter of endorsement for the book.
His letter said the book “connects this core teaching of the Catholic Faith, the identity of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist, marked by the silent but bright witness of the sanctuary lamp.”
“It is my hope,” he wrote, “that the children who read this book will encounter a deeper love for the Eucharist, a greater appreciation for the sanctuary candle, and an abiding hope in the unconquerable Light of the World.”
