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A man for
all seasons
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
One of the highlights of each year is the opportunity I have to make a
four-day retreat with the bishops of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. We
meet at the end of August at Cardinal Stritch Retreat House, a facility
located on the expansive campus of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in
Mundelein, Ill.
It is a time for prayer, conversation and rest. Twenty-eight bishops
were on hand this year. Turns are taken presiding at the daily
concelebrated Mass and leading morning and evening prayer. One evening
is devoted to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and another to a
communal penance service (sacrament of reconciliation). A circular road
leads from the retreat house around the lake and the multiple buildings
that house the seminary. It’s a hike of three miles, just about right
for me and a wonderful context for praying the 20 mysteries of the
rosary.
This year I spent quiet time going through a book about the saints who
are honored during the Church’s Liturgical Year. Increasingly I find
myself taking note of the age of saints at the time of death, conscious
of course that it was an era when life expectancy was significantly less
than in our own time. For example, St. Francis of Assisi died at 44
years of age; St. Dominic, 51; St. Rose of Lima, 31; St. Therese of
Lisieux, 24; and St. Louis, King of France, 56. St. Clare of Assisi, at
60, was considered quite old.
These Catholic heroes are a constant reminder to me that the clock is
ticking. I don’t have “forever” to get my spiritual house in order. God
has called me (all of us) to holiness. A lot of work needs to be done if
I am going to overcome the selfishness that keeps that goal at a
distance. They accomplished much in a relatively brief life span.
What am I waiting for!
St. Thomas More (remembered on June 22) is a saint I find particularly
fascinating. He is an outstanding example of a person who integrated
what the Church teaches into his public and private life even when those
around him were rationalizing positions that were inconsistent with the
teachings of the Church.
Thomas was born in London in 1478. He entered Oxford University in 1492
(a memorable year for other reasons), studied law and was admitted to
the Bar. After becoming a lecturer, his intellectual abilities were
recognized by both secular and religious leaders. One of the more famous
men of his era, Erasmus of Rotterdam, would say of More: “No one is led
less by the opinion of the crowd, yet no one departs less from common
sense.” A devout man, Thomas considered the possibility of the
priesthood. Discerning it was not God’s will for him, he threw himself
full force into his law practice.
At the age of 23, Thomas More was elected a member of Parliament.
Thirteen years later, he was a key member of a delegation to Flanders to
protect English commercial interest. At age 45, he became Speaker of the
House of Commons. In just six years he was named England’s Lord
Chancellor of the Realm.
Thomas would marry, twice. The first marriage resulted in four children.
His wife died six years into the marriage, which by all reports was a
very happy one. Thomas remarried, a widow seven years his senior. A good
but commonplace woman without education, she got play in the movie “A
Man for All Seasons” as a lady who rarely saw the point of her husband’s
jokes or his conflict of conscience. Yet, it too was judged a good
marriage.
It was during the time of King Henry VIII who, in his determination to
secure a male heir to the British throne, declared himself “supreme head
of the Church in England” when the pope refused to annul his marriage to
Catherine of Aragon. Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. Anne, his second
wife, along with wife number five, died on the scaffold when Henry
became less than enamored with them. There would be six wives in all.
The first and the sixth were the only ones fortunate enough to survive
him.
Thomas refused to sign the oath of succession and the act of supremacy
which acknowledged any children born to Henry and Anne Boleyn would be
legitimate heirs to the throne and which repudiated the pope as head of
the Church in England. Thomas was imprisoned, indicted for high treason,
and beheaded. He was 67 years old at the time of his death.
More refused to compromise his conscience even though others, including
lawyers, judges, politicians and bishops, embraced the king’s demands.
In doing so, he proclaimed that he was responsible first and foremost to
God as God had revealed himself through the Catholic Church. His final
words before his execution were: “I am the king’s good servant, but
God’s first.”
Thomas More is patron saint of lawyers and statesmen. In a culture that
proclaims religious beliefs are to be restricted to one’s private life,
Thomas More is a beacon who radiates integrity. A biographer notes that
Thomas must have often meditated on the words of Jesus addressed to
Peter: “When much has been given a man, much will be required of him.
Much more will be asked of a man to whom more has been entrusted”
(Lk.12:48).
These many years after his death, Thomas More continues to inspire
generations of public servants and those who aspire to serve in public
office.
Thomas knew that small incidents and seemingly insignificant decisions
were opportunities for building moral strength. To do what is right, day
in and day out, strengthens us for critical decisions and for the
heroism that someday may be demanded. The temptation to compromise
belief is real. When we come face to face with that temptation, the
Church urges us to think of Thomas More, a man of principle who did not
step away from what his conscience told him was right, even though it
put his career and his life in harm’s way.
John Paul II, reflecting the tradition of the Church, made it clear in
his writings that our religious beliefs are to infuse our decisions,
both private and public. To profess to embrace Catholicism and not to
live it is hypocrisy. Although many, while excusing themselves, may be
inclined to hold up judges and those who serve in elective office to
that mirror, hypocrisy is not an unknown reality in the lives of most of
us.
We would do well to learn more about the saints of our Church. Their
determination to integrate what the Church teaches with the decisions
they made and the life they lived is pregnant with meaning for us and
the times in which we live. |
