This week we celebrated the feast of two of my favorite saints, saints who truly exemplify this Sunday’s Gospel: two English saints, the martyrs St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More.
You may be familiar with the story which brought these two holy men to their martyrdom. King Henry VIII desired to divorce his wife because she was not bearing him a son. At the time Henry was a Catholic; in fact, Catholicism had flourished in England for over a thousand years. Henry had himself written theological texts defending Catholicism against the Protestant Errors of Martin Luther.
But, the desire for an heir, a male son, became an all-encompassing pursuit for the King. Wanting to marry another woman who might bear a son, the King asked the Pope for an annulment. But, after a thorough examination, the Pope decreed that marriage was valid, there were no grounds for an annulment.
The King didn’t like being told what he could and couldn’t do, so King Henry claimed that he was head of the Church in England, and granted himself the annulment.
He then forced all the bishops and all government officials to sign and swear an oath to these claims: they had to swear publicly, that the King was head of the Church, which contradicts the Catholic Faith.
You’d think that this claim would be met with clear denunciation on the part of the England’s bishops; but no. And even though, it is clear from Scripture and the uninterrupted teaching of the Church, that our Blessed Lord while he still walked the earth made St. Peter and his successors the head of the Church, all save one of the Bishops folded to political pressure, and spoke the words the king wished to hear. One lone bishop witnessed to the true faith with his life, that bishop was St. John Fisher.
Thomas More had been chancellor of the kingdom, the highest office in the land, next to the throne. Thomas, in fact, was a very good friend of the King’s and a close confidant. As a high ranking official, te too was being pressured to acknowledge the king’s claim to have this authority to redefine Christianity, to redefine marriage. But Thomas was a man of true faith. He resigned his office, and stood up to the king, who was his friend. For this he was imprisoned, and eventually beheaded.
Henry VIII ended up marrying not just one wife, but six; he beheaded two of them, and simply dismissed two others. And he is responsible, at least partially, for this grave wound within the Church, a wound which continues to weaken Christianity’s witness.
Bishop John Fisher and the statesman Thomas More were faithful even when numerous bishops, priests, and government officials pressured them to contradict their faith. In fact, Thomas was pressured by members of his own family. They were Catholic, they knew the faith, they tried to convince Thomas just take the oath publicly, while keeping the true faith in your heart. But he said, no, what is oath but words of the heart spoken publicly, words spoken to God.
Our Lord in the Gospel today urges us to be faithful, and to be bold in proclaiming our faith publicly: “The words that I’ve spoken in private, speak in the light, those words that you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.” Our faith is to be shared, shouted from the rooftops. What we do publicly, how we act, how we treat people in public, these things matter. Someone once said, you can tell a lot about what is in a person’s heart by how they treat a waitress, a cashier, a salesperson. We are to reflect the goodness of God, and the love of God, in public, to strangers, to our spouses, to our parents, to our children. How we act at a restaurant, at the supermarket, in the parking lot, these things matter.
We should also not be afraid to share our faith. I was talking to a parishioner this week. He was…well..complaining about a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses who came to his door. He told them that he didn’t have time to talk with them, and that they aren’t going to convert him anyway, since he was solid in his Catholic Faith. I told him, of course they aren’t going to convert you, but your job is to convert them! That was an opportunity God was giving you to share your faith. He said, well, they gave me some reading material. And I said, that’s fine, but what did you give them? A Catechism, a holy card, a pamphlet on our Faith, anything? No, Father, I don’t have that, I didn’t have anything to give them, I just wanted to get back to my yardwork.
Saints like John Fisher and Thomas More believed that there is nothing more valuable, nothing more important than our Catholic faith. And if we really believed that, we should never be afraid to share it, to practice it openly, to pray publicly, in the workplace, at the restaurant. I tell the kids at school, that I hope I never see them eat at a restaurant without praying before their meal.
I know people who will not attend bible study or adult faith formation, they won’t volunteer at summer bible camp, or go to daily mass, or even pray the rosary on an airplane, because they don’t want to give off the impression that they are “one of those Catholics”…”too religious”…”too serious about religion”…
We live in such a strange age. In some parts of the world, Christians die for the faith, and in many parts of our own neighborhood, many would rather die than practice it!
Don’t be afraid to shout your faith from the rooftops. That’s certainly part of the Gospel today.
The other part, is a great warning: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” If faced with the choice between dying for the sake of Christ or denying him to save one’s life, we must remember that the worst thing our enemies can do is kill our body; but they cannot kill the soul. Better to save one’s soul than to preserve one’s physical life. Therefore we should revere God much more than we fear our persecutors, for only God can determine our eternal destination.
As he climbed the steps of his place of martyrdom, St.Thomas More was asked if he had any last words. He said, “I die the King’s true servant, but God’s first.”
May our faith take precedence over all of our earthly duties and relationships. May this Eucharist deepen our conviction of the Truth that we possess in our Catholic faith, and deepen our commitment to proclaiming it from the rooftops, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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