Thursday, June 22, 2023
ST.
THOMAS MORE
2
Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 3
But I am AFRAID that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your
thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere [and pure] commitment to Christ.
Paul
was concerned here about the faithfulness of the church, knowing that where the
mind goes so does the heart and soul. We are often plagued by worldly hearts.
Let
us listen to the words of Saint John Vianney: The World is Everything and God
is Nothing![1]
If people would do for God
what they do for the world, my dear people, what a great number of Christians
would go to Heaven! But if you, dear children, had to pass three or four hours
praying in a church, as you pass them at a dance or in a cabaret, how heavily
the time would press upon you! If you had to go to a great many different
places in order to hear a sermon, as you go for your pastimes or to satisfy
your avarice and greed, what pretexts there would be, and how many detours
would be taken to avoid going at all. But nothing is too much trouble when done
for the world. What is more, people are not afraid of losing either God or
their souls or Heaven. With what good reason did Jesus Christ, my dear people,
say that the children of this world are more zealous in serving their master,
the world, than the children of light are in serving theirs, who is God. To our
shame, we must admit that people fear
neither expense, nor even going into debt, when it is a matter of satisfying
their pleasures, but if some poor person asks them for help, they have nothing
at all. This is true of so many: they have everything for the world and nothing
at all for God because to them, the world is everything and God is nothing.
Sir Thomas More-Honesty[2]
John McCain in his book entitled “Character is
Destiny” tells us that Sir Thomas More surrendered everything for the truth as
he saw it and shamed a king with the courage of his conscience. Thomas was a
brilliant student. He loved learning and would for the rest of his life prefer
the less prestigious but more satisfying rewards of a scholar to the riches and
power of the king’s court. He was part of a movement called humanism, whose
followers were faithful to the Church but hoped to encourage a better understanding
of the Gospels and their more honest application to the workings of society.
They studied the great Greek and Roman philosophers, whose views on morality
and just societies they believed complemented their Christian principles. They
were passionate in pursuit of the truth as revealed by God, and by discovery
through study and scholarly debate and discussion. They thought the world could
be made gentler with Christian love and greater learning—love and learning that
served not only the nobility of court and Church, but all mankind. Thomas was a
devout Christian, and for a time lived in a monastery with the intention of
entering the priesthood. The monastic life was one of isolation and
self-denial. And though he took his religious devotion seriously, he loved the
comforts of family life, and the rewards of learning and earthly pleasures as
well: music and art, reading and writing, friendship and conversation and
jests. He loved his city, London, then the greatest capital of Northern Europe.
He loved life. So, he left the cloister for a wife and family, and returned to
the worldly affairs of men. His love of learning and truth was second only to
his love of God, and he encouraged his children, for the sake of their
happiness, to seek truth through learning as well as scripture. He cultivated
friendships and exchanged letters with some of the greatest minds in Europe,
including with the Dutch priest and famous humanist philosopher Erasmus, who
became More’s greatest admirer outside his family, and whose description of
More became the title by which he is still remembered to this day: “a man for
all seasons.” His scholarly reputation and skill as a scrupulously honest
lawyer first gained the attention of the king’s most powerful counselor, the
lord chancellor of England, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. An ambitious and shrewd
politician, Wolsey recognized the younger man’s talents, and pressed him into
the king’s service. Serving first as a diplomat, then in a series of
increasingly powerful offices at court, knighted, and given lands and wealth,
More became a favorite of Wolsey’s and Henry’s. And while he might have
preferred the life of a philosopher, husband, and father to the rigors of
public life, he no doubt took pride in the king’s confidence and favor. When Wolsey’s
downfall came that would lead in time to Thomas’s death, Henry made his friend,
Thomas, Lord Chancellor. It was the highest office at court, and Thomas More
was the first layman to hold it. His appointment was greeted favorably by the
court and public alike, for Thomas was known by one and all as an honest man,
who would conscientiously discharge the duties of his office. As it turned out,
he was too honest for his king. Thomas More waged an intellectual and judicial
war against the followers of Luther that was at times surprisingly aggressive
and even cruel for such a reasonable and just man. In the beginning, he had the
king’s full support in his persecution and prosecution of “heretics.” More
defended the Church out of religious principle, and because he and the king
feared the uncontrollable social disorder that a permanent split among the
faithful would surely cause. But his hatred, if it could be called that in such
a mild man, was for the heresy and not the heretics. Death was the judgment for
heretics in the courts that Thomas More governed, but he went to great lengths
to encourage the accused to recant their views and escape their sentence. In
fact, in the many cases he prosecuted, all the accused except for four poor
souls, who went to their deaths rather than recant, escaped the headman’s ax.
More was diligent in his duty, but a much more powerful threat than Luther’s
protests had encouraged was growing to the Catholic Church in England. Henry’s
queen, Catherine of Aragon, had failed to produce a surviving male heir. Henry
was determined to have a new wife who could give him a healthy son. Other kings
and nobles had received from the pope annulments of their marriage. But the
most powerful king in Europe, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, was Catherine’s
nephew, and he had great influence with Pope Clement VII. He persuaded Clement
not to grant an annulment that would remove the crown from his aunt’s head.
Once Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn, the fifteen-year-old daughter of a
scheming courtier, he would no longer accept papal opposition to his desire to
remarry. In this dangerous and growing conflict, Thomas More became a central
figure, and he would struggle with all his intellect, lawyer’s skills, and
courage to obey his king without forsaking his church. It would prove impossible.
Initially More dutifully served the king’s wishes, arguing in Parliament that
there were grounds to consider the marriage to Catherine unlawful. But when the
king declared himself, and not the pope, to be the supreme head of the Church
in England, More offered the king his resignation. Henry refused it and
promised his friend that he would never be forced to take any action that his
conscience would not permit. But the king’s assurance was hollow, and soon both
he and More realized that the king’s desires and More’s conscience could not be
reconciled. More again asked the king to accept his resignation, and this time,
Henry agreed. For many months, he was careful not to speak against the king’s
wishes, in public or in private. But he declined to attend the king’s wedding
to Anne Boleyn. When Parliament passed a law requiring the king’s subjects to
sign an oath recognizing Anne as queen, and any children she might bear Henry
as legitimate heirs to the throne, he refused to sign it because it denied the
pope’s authority over the Church in England. He was arrested and imprisoned in
the Tower of London. He remained there until his trial fifteen months later.
The jury, which included Anne Boleyn’s father, brother, and uncle, found him
guilty and sentenced him to be hanged, and drawn and quartered. Then More spoke
his conscience and said he could not in his own heart accept the king as head
of the English Church. The death to which he was first sentenced would have been
a far slower and more painful death than he was made to suffer in the end.
Henry, mercifully, permitted his old friend and counselor to die by beheading.
On the day of his execution, he had some difficulty climbing the scaffold
steps. He thanked the guard who helped him but joked that he should be allowed
to “shift for myself” when he came back down. He recited a prayer of
repentance. The hooded executioner, as was the custom, begged the condemned
man’s forgiveness. More gave him a coin, kissed him, and thanked him for giving
him a “greater benefit than ever any mortal man can be able to give me.” And
then the man who had all his life loved to jest, made one last joke. As he
knelt to place his head upon the block, he asked for a moment to arrange his
long beard so that it wouldn’t be severed by the ax, observing that as far as
he knew his beard had not offended the king. In his last address, spoken
moments earlier, he had asked the crowd of witnesses to pray for his soul and
for the king, for he died “the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” One swift
stroke and the king’s will was done. The life on earth of honest Thomas More
was ended. His glory had just begun.
Things
to Do:[3]
·
A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt is a
wonderful play that captures much of St. Thomas More's vitality. There is a
1966 movie by the same title that stars Paul Scofield as St. Thomas. If you
haven't watched the movie or read the play yet, put it on your priority list.
· Read more on the life of St. Thomas More. For youth, Saint Thomas More of London by Elizabeth Ince, a reprint of the wonderful Vision Books series. For adults, the newer book The King's Good Servant but God's First : The Life and Writings of Saint Thomas More by James Monti which explores the life and writings of St. Thomas More. Also Scepter Publishers has a biography Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage by Gerard B. Wegemer.
·
For some writings by St. Thomas More, see The Sadness of Christ (Yale University Press Translation)
and Four Last Things: The Supplication of Souls: A Dialogue on
Conscience.
·
If you or your children are considering a career
as a lawyer you might find Dr.
Charles Rice's article helpful.
·
Learn more about St. Thomas More at Catholic News Agency
·
Read St. Thomas
More: A Saint for Adopted Children and Widowers
·
Read St. Thomas More, martyr of the English Reformation
·
Read Saint Thomas More, Martyr, Chancellor of
England at EWTN
·
Watch this YouTube
video on St. Thomas More
·
Read about the Thomas More Society, a
not-for-profit, national public interest law firm dedicated to restoring
respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty here
Religious
Freedom Week
All people desire to know their Creator. All people have a
natural impulse to seek the good and to live in accordance with that good. All
people can flourish when they pursue the truth about God and respond to the
truth. Religious freedom means that all people have the space to flourish.
Religious freedom is both an American value and an important part of Catholic
teaching on human dignity. When we promote religious freedom, we promote the
common good and thus strengthen the life of our nation and the community of
nations. Learn more at www.usccb.org/ReligiousFreedomWeek!
Thursday is the day of the week that our Lord gave himself
up for consumption. Thursday commemorates the last supper. Some theologians
believe after Sunday Thursday is the holiest day of the week. We should then
try to make this day special by making a visit to the blessed sacrament chapel,
Mass or even stopping by the grave of a loved one. Why not plan to count the
blessing of the week and thank our Lord. Plan a special meal. Be at Peace.
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION
OF FAITH
SECTION
TWO-I. THE CREEDS
CHAPTER ONE-I BELIEVE IN
GOD THE FATHER
198 Our profession of faith begins with God, for God is the First and the Last, The beginning and the end of everything. the Credo begins with God the Father, for the Father is the first divine person of the Most Holy Trinity; our Creed begins with the creation of heaven and earth, for creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works.
Dragon Boat Races—June 22-24--Visit Hong Kong to
experience the excitement of the Duanwu Festival, celebrated on the fifth day
of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. The festival includes
dragon boat races in Aberdeen -- one of the first places to host these races in
Hong Kong. Fishermen believe that rowing dragon boats during the Duanwu
Festival will bring them luck
Daily
Devotions
·
Do not be guided by feeling; it is
not always under your control; but all merit lies in the will. Will is an act of Love.
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Increase
of Vocations to the Holy Priesthood.
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[2]McCain, John; Salter, Mark. Character
Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult
Should Remember
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