Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for June 4, 2006
Liturgical Year B - Cycle II
Pentecost Sunday
 by Fr. John Carney
Topic:  Having Courage like Thomas More
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It’s very interesting to compare the Apostles before and after Pentecost.  Before Pentecost, they were afraid, anonymous; hiding behind locked doors for fear that they might be next because they had followed Christ.  You could say in fairness they were weak and cowardly.  After Pentecost, they became very public people.  In fact, they traveled the whole area, the whole known world at that time, spreading the Gospel of Christ at great risk to themselves and to their lives.  They were not afraid.  Indeed, all but John the beloved had suffered martyrdom.  Peter was crucified upside down in Rome about the same time Paul was killed by Emperor Nero.  Andrew was crucified in Greece.  Simon, Jude and Matthew were martyred in Persia.  Thomas was believed to be martyred in India, James the Greater, in Jerusalem and James the Lesser, also in Jerusalem.  He was stoned and clubbed to death.  Bartholomew was martyred in Armenia.  Phillip and Matthias were killed in Turkey.  Again, John, although not martyred, was certainly persecuted. 
 
So what happened?  What caused this change in their personalities, in their lives?  Of course, we know it was that they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus was with them, he was with them.  When he sent his Holy Spirit, Jesus was in them and that’s the difference.  Like Paul said, “It is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me”.  And that’s where their courage comes from, from the Christ within. 
 
You have that same spirit, you and me, exactly the same.  We have the courage, if necessary to lay down our lives for Christ.  Courage: one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  In this context I would define courage as the strength and guts to do the right thing and refuse to do what is wrong.  That’s something we all need, especially our young people.  We talk so much about peer pressure.  The only way to overcome peer pressure is to have courage, the guts to do the right thing, and the guts and courage to avoid the wrong thing.
 
I’m not talking about a: “John Wayne” type courage.  Although, you know, he’s one of my favorite people.  He describes courage as something like, (in a John Wayne voice), “Knowin’ you’re in big trouble but saddlin’ up anyhow”.  Christian courage is not marked with boldness or militancy or aggressiveness.  It’s often marked by gentleness and even submission.  It’s not so much concerned with being right as it is concerned with being holy.  Jesus is our great example, certainly he was courageous but he was as meek as the lamb.
 
I want to talk about one of our saints today.  We have the cult of the saints in our church, not to honor them but to help us.  They don’t need any honor.  They’re with the Lord.  The saints, I call them the Catholic Hall of Fame, gives us examples of how to live our lives.  They are all different kinds of saints, all different kinds of examples that speak to us.  You know, there’s the Saint of the Little Way, the great St. Therese of the Child Jesus and she became a saint by doing little things well.  Another saint that we honor here without perhaps even knowing it is St. Thomas More.  Our education center is named after him.  We see his name on the center every time we pass it.  We see it in the bulletin talking about meetings and notices.  We can learn a lot about courage from St. Thomas More.  I guess you would say he would be the patron saint of judges or lawyers or politicians.  In all of the things that he demonstrated his courage, we need as well, to do the same, regardless of our vocation.
 
Here is the story of one man’s courage, the man for all seasons.  First, some background on Thomas More: He was born in 1477 in England.  His father was a judge, he was quite wealthy, and he was a child prodigy from his very earliest years.  He was recognized as an exceptional young man.  He was gifted intellectually but he was also somewhat of a jester.  He loved to joke and tell jokes.  He had a great sense of humor and he was kind and compassionate to everyone he met.  By the age of 13, he was recognized as such a prodigy that he went to live with the Lord Chancellor of England, which of course, is second in power and prestige to the King himself.  He lived in the Chancellor’s household, as was the custom at the time where young boys who were being groomed for positions of leadership would be taken into households of prominent people.  He went on to Oxford and Cambridge.  He desired, for a good period of his young life to be a priest but he didn’t feel a call because he wanted to marry.  He did marry, and in fact, it’s a wonderful story.  At that time marriages were more or less arranged and he met three daughters of this prominent gentleman and he took a shine to the second one.  She was the prettiest and he was attracted to her but he was afraid the eldest sister would be hurt if he married her because the eldest should marry off first.  So, he married the eldest and it was a wonderful marriage, a very successful marriage.  They had four children, three daughters and a boy but unfortunately his wife, I believe her name was Jane, died at a very young age, so he remarried another lady by the name of Alice, who he was also very close to.  They didn’t have any children together.
 
At this time Thomas’ career was doing very well.  He became a lawyer.  He was elected as a Member of Parliament and not long after that he became the Speaker of the House of Commons.  At a very young age, still in his thirties, he succeeded the infamous Cardinal Wolsey as Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII.  He was a very effective Chancellor in his work as a judge and he tried to avoid the more controversial issues of the day, which of course we know he eventually wasn’t able to do.  Of course, at this time, Henry VIII, who had been called the defender of the faith by the Pope, wanted a divorce from his wife, Katherine of Aragon of Spain, because she was unable to bear him a male heir to the throne.  We all know what happened.  Rome refused the annulment and so Henry began a movement to proclaim himself as head of the Church.  Of course, he went on to marry five times and he beheaded three of his six wives.  Today, they would say Henry had some issues.
 
When More as Chancellor realized what was going on he asked to resign but his resignation was not accepted because he was so well known and prominent.  He did not want to back Henry’s divorce and remarriage.  He didn’t recognize his second marriage to Anne Boleyn.  He refused to go to the wedding not making a big public statement but trying to keep a low profile knowing the consequences.  At no point did Thomas want to die.  But at no point did he want to violate his conscience.  Finally, Thomas More refused to recognize either the Act of Succession, which in effect recognized Henry’s second marriage and he refused to recognize Henry as the head of the Church of England.  For that, of course, he paid the ultimate price. 
 
Interestingly, Henry and More had been friends.  At least Henry was friendly towards him, supported him, admired him but Thomas never trusted Henry.  Henry at first took away all his property.  Then he put him in the Tower of London where he almost died from the chill and the bad conditions.  Finally, he was beheaded and his head was hung from a post on the London Bridge for thirty days.  He paid the price.
 
That’s just some background.  With that information, I want to read to you a letter he wrote to his daughter Margaret, or at least a portion of the letter.  He wrote this to her not long before he was killed and you can hear some hope in the letter.  He still doesn’t want to die but he will not violate his conscience and if it means that he must die, then so be it.  And I think we can learn much from this man about doing the right thing.
 
Here’s a portion of his letter to his daughter Margaret:
 
“Although I know well, Margaret that because of my past I deserve to be abandoned by God I cannot but trust in his merciful goodness.  His grace has strengthened me until now and may be content to lose goods, land, and life as well rather than to swear against my conscience.  God’s grace has given the King a gracious frame of mind toward me so that as yet he has not taken from me anything but my liberty.  In doing this His Majesty has done me such great good with respect to spiritual profit that I trust that among all the great benefits he has heaped so abundantly upon me I count my imprisonment the very greatest.  I cannot therefore mistrust this grace of God.  I will not mistrust God, Meg, though I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear. I shall remember how St. Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith and I shall do as he did, call upon Christ and pray to him for help.  And then I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning.  And finally Margaret, I know this well: that without my fault he will not let me be lost.  I shall therefore with good hope commit myself holy to him.  And if he permits me to perish for my faults then I shall serve as praise for his justice.  But in good faith Meg I trust that his tender pity shall keep my poor soul safe and make me commend his mercy.  And therefore my own good daughter, do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world.  Nothing can come but what God wills and I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best.”
 
That’s the courage that God gave St. Thomas More.  That’s the courage that God gives you and me to do the right thing and to avoid evil.

Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in us the fire of your love.  Send forth your spirit and we shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth.