"a serious crisis of politics, culture and faith."
posted on Monday, June 22, 2009 8:05:42 AM by tcg
"Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world...
...but for Wales???"
Posted on 06/22/2009 5:05:42 AM PDT by tcg
His hopes for a life with his family, lived in simplicity and fidelity to the Church, were short lived. The King, by now drunk on his own power, insisted that Thomas take the oath under the “Act of Succession”, thereby acknowledging the legitimacy of his “marriage” to Anne and his authority over the Church. Thomas would not do so because he refused to violate his truly formed conscience. So, the King had his former counselor imprisoned in the Tower of London. There he underwent intense tortures of both body and soul. These came not only from the henchmen of the State but even from some within his own family and circle of friends who failed to understand his actions because their minds had been dulled by compromise.
At the time, few would have even noticed if Thomas had succumbed to the Royal request. He probably could have even justified the action through the exercise of his well honed rhetorical and logical skills by calling it a merely perfunctory action. He could have thereby restored his political position, some would have argued, in order to try to influence the King for the good over the long haul. He could have had his substantial properties restored if he had just sworn that oath, others would say, in order to provide material safety for his beloved family. Instead, this man who loved life, loved his family, loved his career and properly loved the world and all of its goods, loved the Lord first and would not compromise the Truth.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
perhaps the one instance where even a Hollywood film can not exaggerate this man’s virtues
where is such a man today?
Ping for your lists.
“I die the King’s good servant and God’s first.” - Thomas More.
To set the world at naught. To set the mind firmly on You and not to hang upon the words of men's mouths.
To be content to be solitary. Not to long for worldly pleasures. Little by little utterly to cast off the world and rid my mind of all its business.
Not to long to hear of earthly things, but that the hearing of worldly fancies may be displeasing to me.
Gladly to be thinking of God, piteously to call for His help. To lean into the comfort of God. Busily to labor to love Him.
To know my own vileness and wretchedness. To humble myself under the mighty hand of God. To bewail my sins and, for the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity.
Gladly to bear my purgatory here. To be joyful in tribulations. To walk the narrow way that leads to life.
To have the last thing in remembrance. To have ever before my eyes my death that is ever at hand. To make death no stranger to me. To foresee and consider the everlasting fire of Hell. To pray for pardon before the judge comes.
To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me. For His benefits unceasingly to give Him thanks.
To buy the time again that I have lost. To abstain from vain conversations. To shun foolish mirth and gladness. To cut off unnecessary recreations.
Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all, to set the loss at naught, for the winning of Christ.
To think my worst enemies my best friends, for the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred.
These minds are more to be desired of every man than all the treasures of all the princes and kings, Christian and heathen, were it gathered and laid together all in one heap.
Amen
Written while St. Thomas More was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
bttt
"Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world...
...but for Wales???"
You could take literally every line Paul Scofield said in that movie and it'd qualify for any 'best of' list of quotes.
William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
And in all fairness, equal credit has to go to the man who wrote the lines as well as the man who delivered them - Robert Bolt and Paul Scofield.
Roper:Now, that's a word I don't like, Sir Thomas!
More: It's not a likeable word or thing.
...
More: Now listen well. Two years ago you were a passionate churchman. Now you're a passionate Lutheran. We must just pray that when your head's finished turning... ...your face is to the front again.
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Henry VIII: "No opposition I say! No opposition! Your conscience is your own affair; but you are my Chancellor. There, you have my word - I'll leave you out of it..."
Nice post.
bump
Actually, in reading it again, I think that this is not the correct version...but, it pretty much conveys the sense of what he was thinking.
More had his foibles.....
... but when the line was drawn, he knew what he had to do.
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