![\"St%2520Thomas%2520More%2520-%2520re.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vultuschristi.org\/St%2520Thomas%2520More%2520-%2520re-thumb.jpg?resize=215%2C350&ssl=1\")
O God, who didst fill Thy blessed bishop John\nwith such great courage
\nthat he cast away his life in the cause of truth and justice,
\nenable us through his intercession and example
\nto give up our life in this world for the sake of Christ,
\nso that we may find it again in heaven.<\/em><\/p>\n
O God, who, when the blessed martyr Thomas
\nhad to choose between the allurements of the world
\nand the pains of imprisonment and death,
\ndidst give him strength to embrace Thy cross
\nwith a cheerful and resolute spirit,
\nwe pray Thee grant that we too,
\nthanks to his intercession and example,
\nmay fight manfully for faith and right,
\nand be found worthy to make a joyful entrance
\ninto everlasting bliss.<\/p>\n
Men of Fire and of Light<\/strong> The Sun Snatched from the Universe<\/strong> Opinions and Options<\/strong> The Way<\/strong> The icon of Saint Thomas More is by the graced hand of Brother Claude Lane, O.S.B., monk of Mount Angel Abbey. O God, who didst fill Thy blessed bishop John with such great courage that he cast away his life in the cause of truth and justice, enable us through his intercession and example to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-saints"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-JX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2849"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13342,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2849\/revisions\/13342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nToday is the feast of two martyrs, one a bishop and the other a husband, father, lawyer, statesman, and philosopher: Saints John Fisher and Thomas More. Both were men of fire and of light. Both fought manfully and suffered the martyrdom of John the Baptist, the Friend of the Bridegroom of whom Our Lord said, \u201cHe was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light\u201d (Jn 5:35).<\/p>\n
\nSaint John Fisher was alone among all the bishops of the realm to stand against Henry VIII in the \u201cgreat affair\u201d of his divorce and against the Act of Supremacy by which the King repudiated the jurisdiction of the Pope over the Church in England. The Church in<\/em> England was to become the Church of<\/em> England. Protestantization would follow and, above all, the suppression of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered according to the rite of the Church of Rome. Concerning Holy Mass, Bishop John Fisher had written: \u201cHe who goes about to take the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass from the Church, plots no less a calamity than if he tried to snatch the sun from the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAn entire national body of bishops save one broke the bond of their communion with Peter and fell into schism and heresy. A sobering lesson! There is no security in the Catholic faith apart from a loyal attachment to the See of Peter expressed in a joyful communion of mind and heart, and in an effective obedience. Today, the Anglican Communion worldwide is torn and broken apart into factions, and factions of factions. In the absence of a supreme magisterium nothing remains but opinions and options.<\/p>\n
\nImitating Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, may we spurn the temptation to prefer \u201cour way\u201d to The Way<\/em> and also, like them, cheerfully and resolutely put nothing before the love of Christ who says: \u201cI came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled\u201d (Lk 12:49, Magnificat<\/em> Antiphon at First Vespers of the Sacred Heart).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"