What a wonderful feast today: St John Fisher and St Thomas More, two holy men who died rather than renounce Christ, his Church and the moral law of God. They are worthy examples and intercessors for us in these times. A happy feast day to you all, most especially to all our Fraternity members and my blog readers in the UK, and to those in the US as they begin Fortnight for Freedom: may these holy martyrs be with you all and obtain from the Lord the grace and courage we all need to face the challenges of these times.
St John and St Thomas were martyred by Henry VIII because they would not support his divorce, his remarriage and his founding of the Church of England. But there was another reason too, I believe: both were renowned for their holiness - Henry needed their consent in order to assuage his conscience. When they refused to give it, then they had to be killed - Henry had to get holiness out of the way because it pricked his conscience. And as he beheaded them, and murdered the other holy men of England, he managed to silence his conscience. Our enemies in these times will try to do the same with us. Stand firm!
Let us remember the lessons of these holy men: no king, president, prime minister, taoiseach or parliament can make right what is wrong in the moral law of God.
Great men! I had been reading on Thomas More recently and got the eerie feeling that the Holy Spirit was trying to tell me something. A mild justle towards preparing myself for a time of hardship. Thomas More, truly a man for all seasons. Incredible courage, Horrendous far-sightedness. How did he know that so much of today depended on his bravery then. He is in the Kingdom ocnversing every day with great friends of his: St.Paul, who was beheaded outside the walls of Rome and St. John the Baptist, beheaded to please the gruesome whim of a cruel woman.
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