Saturday, June 22, 2024

June 22

Saint of the day:

Saint Paulinus of Nola

ST. THOMAS MORE

Luke, Chapter 12, Verse 32

Do not be AFRAID any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

What is the Kingdom of God?[1]

Did you know that the phrase, “Kingdom of God” occurs 122 times in the New Testament?

Did you know that 99 of these occurrences are found in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke)?

Did you know that 90 of those 99 occurrences come from the mouth of Jesus?

Jesus of Nazareth, volume 1 by, now, pope emeritus Benedict. If you haven’t read it yet, you really should. Let’s examine three historic and harmonizing interpretations of the kingdom of God, each of which shed light on this important concept.

The Christological Dimension

Here we see that “the Kingdom is not a thing; it is not a geographical dominion like worldly kingdoms. It is a person; it is he. On this interpretation, the term ‘Kingdom of God’ is itself a veiled Christology. By the way in which he speaks of the Kingdom of God, Jesus leads men to realize the overwhelming fact that in him God himself is present among them, that he is God’s presence.” (Pope Benedict, Jesus of Nazareth, Part 1)

The Idealistic/Mystical Dimension

Here we see that The Kingdom of God resides in the heart of man. Church Father, Origen wrote, “those who pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God pray without any doubt for the Kingdom of God that they contain in themselves, and they pray that this kingdom might bear fruit and attain its fullness.”

The Ecclesiastical Dimension

Here we see that the kingdom of God is in the here and now, present in and through the Church. Yet it is a mixed reality that will only be perfectly realized at the end of history. This current “mixed” state can be seen as the Church on earth which now grows in the field of the world with both weeds and wheat until the harvest when Christ says he will “tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned. But gather the wheat into my barn” (Matt 13:30).

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

· Plan a special meal. Be at Peace.

Tea Cookies

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!

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION ONE-"I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"

CHAPTER TWO GOD COMES TO MEET MAN

Article 2-THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION

IN BRIEF

96 What Christ entrusted to the apostles, they in turn handed on by their preaching and writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to all generations, until Christ returns in glory.

97 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God" (DV 10) in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches.

98 "The Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes" (DV 8 # 1).

99 Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith, the People of God as a whole never ceases to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully from the gift of divine Revelation.

100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.

Vinny’s Corner

Every year on June 22, we celebrate National HVAC Tech Day, a day dedicated to the skilled technicians who keep our heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems running smoothly.

How to Celebrate National HVAC Tech Day

· Shoutout to the Techs! Blast out a message on social media to celebrate the unsung heroes of HVAC. Highlight their dedication and hard work with a personalized post that shows how much you appreciate their service. Don’t forget to tag your favorite techs and include the hashtag #NationalHVACTechDay.

· Gift a Cool Tool. Surprise your favorite HVAC technician with a handy tool they can use on the job. Make sure to choose something practical, like a gadget that will make their workday a bit easier. A thoughtful gift shows you understand and support their skills.

· Treat Them to a Meal. There’s no better way to say “thank you” than with a delicious meal. Treat your tech to breakfast before their busy day begins, or hand them a gift card for a well-deserved break. Showing kindness with food is always a hit.

· Learn About HVAC. Attending a local seminar to dive into the world of HVAC technology. You’ll gain a deeper appreciation for what technicians do and maybe even learn how to keep your system running better.

· Take Care of Your System. Keeping your HVAC system in top shape not only helps you but also eases your technician’s workload. Regular maintenance, like changing the filter, ensures your tech won’t have to work as hard to keep your system running efficiently.

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

· Drops of Christ’s Blood

· Universal Man Plan

· Rosary