St. Thomas Moore, St John Fisher – and Mom! Defenders of marriage all

Today is the feast of St. Thomas Moore and St. John Fisher. St. Thomas is well known to us from the movie A Man for All Seasons, but St. John is an interesting saint as well. Blogger and author, Stephanie Mann  spoke on a Catholic  radio talk about how St. John had been friends with Henry VII and with Lady Margaret Beaufort (Henry VIII’s grandmother). In fact, he said the funeral mass for both of them. He was very close to the family and knew young Henry from boyhood. It amazes me then that Henry VIII so could be so stiff necked in his views that he could have John Fisher executed! But he did. That would be like having one of our beloved parish priests killed over a difference of opinion – it’s unthinkable.

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Thomas Moore was the epitome of a loving husband and father, as well as having a faithfulness to his position and a love and respect for knowledge.  But most of all he was “the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”

These are a few of my favorite scenes from A Man for All Seasons. I love the wit and the great logic of Thomas Moore. Please enjoy!

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Seven years ago today my mother died.  So many times I still want to pick up the phone and talk to her about just anything.  I wonder what she would think of Calvin being married and out in the world so far away. She knew what it was like to be the married child moving far from home. And she also knew what it was to be the parent whose child moved to another state. She would probably have words of wisdom for both of is. I know she would be thrilled that Noah is going to a Catholic college in the fall, and she would have called her niece, the new doctor, already many times for medical advice!  She would have played with Miss C, and she would have been thrilled to once again be the grandmother at a wedding – this time, the upcoming grandmother of the bride!

Would she have advice for my sister as mother of the bride?

It has always been interesting to me that God took my mother home on this particular Feast day.  St. Thomas Moore and St. John Fisher really died for the sanctity of marriage.  

As I always try to find the reason for things and why they happen when they do, it finally  made sense to me why God would call my mother home on this day. Mom had not made a wise marriage choice and she did not have a happy marriage, in fact she spent more time alone than with my father. But she always loved him, she remained loyal to him, she never divorced, she took care of him when he got ill and she grieved his death. So if there was ever anyone that suffered for marriage- she did!  I guess that gives her something in common with St. Thomas Moore and St. John Fisher.

And if one of the primary ends of marriage was to have children and raise them to love the Lord – she did that too, not only with her daughters, but with her grandchildren as well.  She truly was God’s good servant.

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