Homily: Saints John Fisher and Thomas More - "Faith's true expression"

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 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, and so he asked the Pope for an annulment, and the Pope said, that he had no grounds for an annulment. 

Henry then claimed that he was head of the Church in England, and granted himself the annulment.  He then forced all bishops and all government officials to sign their names to these lies by taking two oaths: first, that the King was head of the Church, and two, that whoever He had the right to name his own heir to the throne despite what the law said.  Bishop John Fisher was the only bishop in England who would not take the oaths and Sir 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.  John Fisher and Thomas More had the courage to stand up for the Catholic faith. 

You know the rest of the story: Henry VIII ended marrying not just one wife, but six; he beheaded two of them, and simply dismissed two others.  He wanted to rule his kingdom by lust instead of trust in God and his commandments.

John Fisher, even though all of his brother bishops folded to worldly pressure boldly proclaimed the Catholic Faith.  Thomas More had been chancellor of the kingdom; he resigned his job, and stood up to the king, who was his friend.  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 martyred.

Listen again to the collect prayer for today’s feast: “O God, who in martyrdom have brought true faith to its highest expression.” Faith is brought to true expression when we stand up for the faith amidst worldly pressures.

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. 

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.