From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   June 22nd - St. Thomas More   
      
   Sir Thomas More was born in London on February 7, 1478 and received   
   martyrdom on July 6, 1535 because he would not recognize Henry VIII as head   
   of the so-called Anglican Church. He refused to give written approval to the   
   Parliamentary Act of Succession by which the English Sovereign pretended to   
   be superior to the See of Rome, that is, to the Pope.   
      
   In his defense Sir Thomas stated that such an act was not valid because it   
   went against the foundation of Christendom, as well as the law of England   
   itself, the Magna Carta. It also violated the solemn oath of allegiance to   
   the Church and Rome that.all Christian Kings pronounced at their coronation.   
   He argued that by refusing obedience to the Pope, the Kingdom of England was   
   like a child refusing obedience to his natural father.   
      
   For two years, he remained imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he wrote   
   the book Dialogue of the Comfort against Tribulation. In this book, two   
   Hungarians, an uncle and his nephew, discuss the problem of suffering and   
   death under the threat of an imminent invasion of the country by the Turks.   
   He refers metaphorically to Henry VIII as the Great Turk, and the Turkish   
   invasion as the threat of Protestantism against the unity of the Catholic   
   Faith.   
      
   In its last chapter he has the uncle speak these words:   
      
   "How many Romans, how many noble hearts of other sundry countries, have   
   willingly given their own lives and suffered great deadly pains and very   
   painful deaths for their countries, to win by their death only the reward of   
   worldly renown and fame! And should we, then, shrink to suffer as much for   
   eternal honor in Heaven and everlasting glory? The Devil also has some   
   heretics so obstinate that they wittingly endure painful death for vain   
   glory. And is it not then more than shameful that Christ shall see His   
   Catholics forsake His faith rather than suffer the same for Heaven and true   
   glory?   
      
   . If we had the fifteenth part of the love for Christ that He both had and   
   has for us, all the pain of this Turk's persecution could not keep us from   
   Him, but there would be at this day as many martyrs here in Hungary as there   
   have been before in other countries of old.   
      
   And I doubt not but that, if the Turk stood even here with his whole army   
   about him; and if every one of them were ready at hand with all the terrible   
   torments that they could imagine, and were setting their torments to us   
   unless we would forsake the faith; and if to the increase of our terror,   
   they fell at us all at once in a shout, with trumpets, tabrets, and timbrels   
   all blown, and all their guns going off making a fearful noise; if then, on   
   the other hand, the ground should suddenly quake and rive atwain, and the   
   Devils should rise out of Hell and show themselves in such ugly shape as   
   damned wretches shall see them; and if, with that hideous howling that those   
   hell-hounds should screech, they should lay Hell open on every side round   
   about our feet, so that as we stood we should look down into that pestilent   
   pit and see the swarm of poor souls in the terrible torments there - we   
   would wax so afraid of the sight that we should scantly remember that we saw   
   the Turk's host.   
      
   And in good faith, for all that, yet think I further this: If there might   
   then appear the great glory of God, the Trinity in His high marvelous   
   majesty, our Savior in His glorious manhood sitting on the throne, with His   
   Immaculate Mother and all that glorious company, calling us there unto them;   
   and if our way should yet lie through a marvelous, painful death before we   
   could come to them - upon the sight, I say, of that glory, I daresay there   
   would be no man who once would shrink at death, but every man would run on   
   toward them in all that ever he could, though there lay by the way, to kill   
   us for malice, both all the Turk's tormentors and all the Devils.   
      
   And therefore, nephew, let us well consider these things, and let us have   
   sure hope in the help of God. .   
      
   (Translated by Monica Stevens)   
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   These beautiful considerations by St. Thomas More call to mind the Spiritual   
   Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. They have a similar method, the same   
   reasonable tone, and the frequent use of contrast. St. Ignatius draws on   
   contrast a great deal to move souls.   
      
   For example, St. Thomas More describes the Devil who wants our souls to be   
   lost, and then he shows God in all His glory Who wants to save us. He seeks   
   to move the soul not only by the consideration of perdition, but perdition   
   in contrast with salvation. He touches the soul in its deepest points to   
   incline it toward a good decision. Contrast is an excellent psychological   
   tool to move souls.   
      
   He presents the dreadful situation of a man facing persecution and   
   martyrdom. In such situation, he vacillates. To keep him from wavering, St.   
   Thomas More presents an argument that ends with this eminently Ignatian   
   metaphor: There are the armies of the Turk - Henry VIII - that will take his   
   life. But behind the Turk's armies are the armies of the Devil, filled with   
   demons in their most horrendous forms. Therefore, the man thinks: "If I do   
   not vanquish this fear I have of the Turk, then I will be taken by the   
   Devil, and I will become a devil like those hideous creatures. The human   
   body can die, but the soul will live forever."   
      
   So, to avoid being eternally tormented, the man agrees to a transitory   
   suffering at the hands of the Turk. He is disposed to resist the Turk's   
   army, and to die doing so.   
      
   This is not a theoretical consideration. It is one that St. Thomas More made   
   because it applied to his case. He knew that he would suffer martyrdom, that   
   he would have a violent death, and that he was describing his own agony. He   
   remained two years in prison: it was a long, slow anguish. Then, after he   
   learned the date of his execution, he suffered some days of intense   
   distress. Finally, when he climbed the scaffold on Tower Hill and the   
   executioner lowered the axe to his neck, he had some minutes, hardly more   
   than ten, before his soul separated from his body. It was done. He went to   
   Heaven. What was all that suffering compared to being damned for all   
   eternity?   
      
   If he had chosen the Devil's army, which meant apostasy from the Catholic   
   Faith, he would be like a hideous devil, filled with contradictions,   
   unhappiness and afflictions, tormented by his own conscience and by other   
   dammed souls for all eternity. That is to say, considering only the realm of   
   torments, the ones he chose were much less than the ones he would have had   
   to suffer if he had apostatized. He decided to face the executioner.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)