The Easter Vigil

April 11, 2009

Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass

of the

St. Thomas More Society

celebrated at

St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church , 1013 Wood Street

Scranton, PA

Mark 16:1-7

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

            As many of you know, our Society took as its patron St. Thomas More because of his unwillingness to compromise the Catholic faith when it became fashionable in sixteenth century England to do so.  St. Thomas More refused to acknowledge King Henry VIII as the head of the Church in England, having already confessed the Pope to be the only earthly head of Christ’s Church.  For this steadfastness, St. Thomas More paid with his life, beheaded on July 6, 1535.

            What is less well known is that our Patron shares his saint’s day with another man who was executed for the same reason two weeks prior to St. Thomas More’s martyrdom.  St. John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, was killed by Henry VIII on June 22, 1535, this being the reason for the Paternal Feast falling on June 22.

            Of all the bishops in England, only John Fisher refused to take Henry’s Oath of Supremacy and, as a result of this great refusal, only John Fisher’s name is remembered.

An example of holiness even in his own day, St. John Fisher survived several attempts on his life before he finally was arrested, convicted of treason by a kangaroo court, and sentenced to death.  At the time, his witness stood in contrast to the cowardice of the vast majority of his countrymen who were willing to succumb to tyranny.  Because of their witness, St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More stand as two of the best men England has ever produced.

            What enabled these men to stand up for the truth even unto death?  The answer is simple, the same event that we here tonight celebrate:  the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Both John Fisher and Thomas More found the courage to be great through their faith in Christ’s rising from the dead.  They took to heart our Lord’s admonition to the women that we heard tonight, “Do not be afraid.”  That is, their countrymen were content with mediocrity because they were afraid to die.  John Fisher and Thomas More understood the implications of the Resurrection and so were not cowed by the terror of Henry VIII.  They were unwilling to compromise the truth for a few more years of life if doing so meant losing their souls.  They knew their inheritance was in heaven, with Jesus at the right hand of God, so they could not be forced to do evil.  Thus, having overcome the fear of death because of their faith in the resurrection, they stand as examples to all those who would resist tyrants for the sake of freedom.  They remind us to stand up for what is right because the worst that can happen to us is not death but damnation.  Moreover, our resistance to tyranny and our pursuit of virtue will in the end be rewarded.  God will not abandon those He has called home.

            We see then that in order for us truly to be great and examples to others for generations to come, the destiny to which every Catholic is called, we must overcome our fear of death by trusting that God will remember our commitment to Him, just as He remembered Jesus’ devotion which Jesus expressed in His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.  Our Society’s small act of steadfastness, of course, is not commensurate with John Fisher and Thomas More’s great sacrifice of themselves, but we drew courage from their example.  If these two men did not fear death itself, we did not need to fear the minor hardships we endured in converting to Catholicism.  Thus freed from the burden of conflicted consciences, we have been able to be an example to others.  Just today, in fact, we have been able to reconcile a few more former Anglicans to Holy Mother Church.  Without overcoming our fears by our faith in the life to come, we could not have undertaken this work.

            Sometimes fear of death is not what holds us back.  Sometimes we are able to accept mediocrity for ourselves and from others because of our shame.  Too often we are unable to heed the wisdom we heard tonight from St. Paul, that by virtue of the Resurrection, we are able to walk in newness of life.  We have been baptized into Christ’s death and so we have died to our sins.  Forgetting this simple truth, that we have been forgiven for our misdeeds, we allow feelings of unworthiness to keep us from being the great example we are called to be.

            St. Paul knew what he was talking about.  He, after all, had been a persecutor of Christians, responsible for the death of the first martyr, St. Stephen.  Yet he became the greatest theologian and evangelist in the history of the Church, all because he accepted Christ’s forgiveness and refused to let his shameful past deter him from a glorious future.

            In January, I was blessed to hear a woman speak who has encountered many modern St. Pauls.  At the annual Pro-Life Prayer Breakfast at St. Mary’s Center, the foundress of Rachel’s Vineyard retreats for post-abortive women presented her story.  She told of how as a psychology student she counseled woman after woman whose present dysfunction could be traced to the trauma of having aborted a child.  Yet at the time there existed no program for such women to experience the forgiveness from which St. Paul himself had benefited.  In fact, she recounted, many of her peers refused to consider that shame and guilt over what they had done were in reality responsible for the mental illnesses from which these women were suffering.

            Rachel’s Vineyard is now twenty years old, and countless women—and even many men—have found healing through the forgiveness that the retreats communicate.  Even more wonderfully, many of these women, having overcome their shame and walking in newness of life, are able to witness to the sanctity of human life so that they might spare others the pain they have known.  And, in the process, they found themselves saving the lives of unborn children, as well.  These women have taken seriously the implications of the Resurrection—Christ’s victory over the grave is His victory over their sin.  His forgiveness means they need not be shackled to their shame forever.  His forgiveness means that despite their past lives, they can nevertheless do great things for God and man.

            I want those of you who today are receiving the Sacraments of the Church to understand always that they are given to you so you can fulfill your destiny.  Ray, Renee, Matt, Shane, Jacob, and Clara, God’s purpose for you is the greatness of St. Thomas More and of St. John Fisher, men who loved God and His Church more than they feared death.  Our Lord’s resurrection banished their fear because His death had washed away their sin.  Thus, they were free to witness in the brave manner we recalled tonight.  But remember that their journey, the journey of the saints of God, also began in the same place as the post-abortive women of Rachel’s Vineyard—mourning their sins, receiving God’s forgiveness, being assured of the good works God has prepared for them to walk in.  The Lord has prepared good works for you, too.  Despise the shame, forswear your fear, and walk in newness of life!