Thursday, June 22, 2023

 (Optional) Memorial of Saint John Fisher, bishop and martyr, and Saint Thomas More, martyr

(II Corinthians 11:1-11; Matthew 6:7-12)

In today’s gospel Jesus instructs his disciples to pray that God’s kingdom comes.  St. Thomas More gave his life as a witness to that kingdom.  The story of his martyrdom is well-known because of the powerful movie made in the 1960s.  Yet it is worth retelling because of the need for testifying to faith today.

More was chancellor of England, the highest-ranking minister in the state.  He was well-loved by King Henry VIII until he refused to sign a document legitimating the king’s second marriage in defiance of the Catholic Church.  Imprisoned, More refused to comment on the king’s assuming leadership of the Church in England.  For saying nothing, he was doomed to execution!  On the way to the scaffold he clarified his position saying, “I am the king’s good servant but God’s first.”

Recently, the Los Angeles Dodgers gave an award to a drag queen group that mocks the Church.  Proponents of distorted sex now openly heap disdain on the Catholic Church.  They cannot tolerate the Church’s consistent teaching that sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage.  One major league ballplayer criticized the award.  For the sake of a sound society, good people like this ballplayer must give witness to the legitimacy of the Church’s teaching.

 

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