Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm.
Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully
to the work of the Lord, because you know
that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
I Cor 15:58
"When Thomas More was Chancellor of England some of his friends reproached him for going to Communion so often. With all his duties and responsibilities they thought that this piety took up too much of his time. He answered their objections with these words:
'Your reasons for wanting me to stay away from Holy Communion are exactly the ones which cause me to go so often. My distractions are great, but it is in Communion that I recollect myself. I have temptations many times a day; by daily Communion I get the strength to overcome them. I have much very important business to handle and I need light and wisdom; it is for this very reason that I go to Holy Communion every day to consult Jesus about them.' "
John M Haffert
Excerpt from The World's Greatest Saints
St Thomas More
Husband, Father, Lawyer, Knight,
Lord Chancellor of England, Author, Martyr
Steadfastly refused to approve
Henry VIII’s divorce/remarriage
and establishment of the Church of England
Patron of Lawyers
England ~ 1478-1535
Feast Day - June 22
On July 6, 1535, the 57-year-old More
came before the executioner to be beheaded.
“I die the king's good servant,”
he told the onlookers, “but God's first.”
St Thomas More, pray for us!
___________________________________________________________
ANOTHER FEAST CELEBRATED TODAY:
Of all the English bishops, only Bishop John Fisher of Rochester publicly opposed Henry VIII's mandatory Oath of Allegiance, which unlawfully declared King Henry the head of the Church of England. The bishop's stand ultimately cost him his life. May his example inspire all Catholics today, especially the bishops on whose courageous leadership the Church depends.
On the scaffold he said to the people assembled:
"Christian people, I am come hither to die for the faith of Christ's Holy Catholic Church, and I thank God hitherto my stomach hath served me very well thereunto, so that yet I have not feared death. Wherefore I do desire you all to help and assist me with your prayers, that at the very point and instant of death's stroke, I may in that very moment stand steadfast without fainting in any one point of the Catholic faith free from any fear; and I beseech Almighty God of His infinite goodness to save the king and this Realm, and that it may please Him to hold His holy hand over it, and send the king good Counsel."
He then knelt, said the Te Deum and submitted to the axe.
Erasmus said: "He is the one man at this time who is incomparable for uprightness of life, for learning and for greatness of soul."
Bishop, Martyr
England ~ 1469-1535
Feast Day - June 22
St. John wrote to someone who left the Church:
“Had you but tasted one drop of the sweetness
which inebriates the souls of those religious from
their worship of this Sacrament, you would never
have written as you have,nor have apostatized
from the faith that you formerly professed.”
St John Fisher, pray for us!
