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Monday, June 22, 2009

Holy Saints of God, Pray for Us!


Today is the feast day of St. Thomas More, layman and martyr, husband and father, patron of lawyers, and friend to all. The good nature of Thomas More was well-known during his life. He enjoyed filling his home with books and artifacts that entertained and enlightened his friends and family. But when his conscience forced him to relinquish his post as Lord High Chancellor of England and disappear into ignominy and poverty, he let it all go without rancor. He knew personally what St. Paul speaks of in Philippians 4:12. "I have learned how to cope with every circumstance -- how to eat well or go hungry, to be well provided for or do without. In him who is the source of my strength I have strength for everything." Even martyrdom. The man who asked, "Is this the stuff of which martyrs are made?" in A Man for All Seasons, proved the answer was a resounding yes! What an example he is for our cowardly and apostate age.

His contemporary, Bishop St. John Fisher, shares this feast day. St. John was the only English bishop with the courage to stand up to the king and was beheaded for it. While thousands of priests and laymen went to gruesome deaths for no other "crime" than refusing to give up the Holy Mass, most of the English bishops held their tongues and kept their heads on their necks while selling out English Catholics. How like our own day except that there is no threat of bloody martyrdom for today's cowardly bishops, only ridicule and loss of human respect.

John Fisher's head was impaled on a pike on London Bridge, but its lifelike appearance and ruddy complexion inspired so much comment it was quickly removed and thrown into the Thames. A short while later, St. Thomas More's head took its place.

Let us rejoice at the examples of these two brave men and resolve to follow them in courage, kindness, and zeal.

And as a postscript I wish my brother John, named after St. John Fisher, a very Happy Birthday!

4 comments:

  1. Mrs. K writes: 'How like our own day except that there is no threat of bloody martyrdom for today's cowardly bishops, only ridicule and loss of human respect.'

    Only that penalty - so far anyhow.

    antigon

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  2. I'm reading the book "Left to Tell" which recounts the Rwandan Holocaust. There is no end to the inhumanity man is capable of visiting on his fellow man, and for trivial reasons too.
    Our society is certainly no exception.
    Give'em time to whip up a little hatred ... you know that awful right win, uncaring, hypocritical right to lifers who what to keep you from enjoying yourself at the expense of whatever it takes.

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  3. I just finished reading a book on the Indonesian death squads that were put in place in 1965. They killed well over 3,000,000 innocents. I won't say which nation toppled that democratically elected leader in 1965, as nobody would believe me. I fly my flag upside down on September 30 in honor of 3,000,000 innocents who did not deserve death.

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  4. There are still heroes out there, you just need to look. My hero is Dr. Niels Harrit. If you do a search on you tube and watch his clip, you will know why.

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