Homily: June 22 - Saints John Fisher, Bishop, and Thomas More, Martyrs

Yesterday began a fortnight of prayer for our country over the next two weeks, and today’s saints exemplify the virtues we pray for and hope to practice.

You likely know the story of what brought Saints John Fisher and Thomas More to the scaffold at which they were beheaded:  King Henry VIII claimed that he was the head of the Catholic Church within England.  He forced all bishops and all government officials to sign their names to this lie.  John Fisher was the only bishop in England who would not sign his name.  Thomas More was the highest-ranking layman not to do so.  Both were imprisoned in the Tower of London when they would not recognize Henry VIII’s supposed authority to dissolve his marriage to Queen Katherine of Aragorn and marry Ann Boleyn. 

Even if England had not been torn apart by Henry VIII, these two men would still very likely have become saints.  Their dedication to their respective vocations was exemplary long before they were forced to choose between God and country.

Listen again to the collect prayer for today’s feast: “O God, who in martyrdom have brought true faith to its highest expression, graciously grant that, strengthened through the intercession of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, we may confirm by the witness of our life the faith we profess with our lips.” 

As each of us is called witness to the truth of the Christian faith in our own lives, it is a matter both of professing that faith with our lips—with our words—and with our actions.  We each face difficult moral choices, and the faith must be our guiding light, even when we know that the difficult decision will involve hardship or suffering. 

Bishop Fisher and Thomas More knew that they would likely face death for standing up for the faith, like the thousands of martyrs before them.  Thomas More’s last words on earth were, “I die the King’s good servant; but God’s first.”

Our families, our parish, our nation need people who will put God first. 

During this fortnight of prayer for freedom, we do well to invoke the intercession of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More for freedom from government interference in the practice of the faith, and for our ability to stand courageously for the truth of the faith, even to suffer for it if necessary, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.