June 19, 2005

On June 22 the Church celebrates the feast of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, who were martyred at the Tower of London in 1535. Fisher was the only bishop in his whole nation brave enough to offer his life for the Faith of our Fathers. A portrait of More, patron of statesmen and lawyers, painted after the classic Holbein portrait, hangs in the front of the church next to the St. Joseph altar. Diplomats and lawyers should light a candle and pray for his intercession. Below is a letter written by St. Thomas from the Tower to his daughter Margaret.

“Although I know well, Margaret, that because of my past wickedness I deserve to be abandoned by God, I cannot but trust in his merciful goodness. His grace has strengthened me until now and made me 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 taken from me nothing 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 the grace of God.

“By the merits of his bitter passion joined to mine and far surpassing in merit for me all that I can suffer myself, his bounteous goodness shall release me from the pains of purgatory and shall increase my reward in heaven besides.

“I will not mistrust him, Meg, though I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being over­come with fear. I shall remember how Saint 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 wholly 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.”