Articles

More's Understanding of Conscience
MORE DIED FOR CONSCIENCE. He refused to accept that Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn was legitimate and that the king in Parliament had the authority to compel a citizen to affirm the state’s pronouncement. For that he resigned, was arrested, convicted of misprision of treason, and sentenced to life in prison. While incarcerated, he refused to acknowledge that Henry VIII was Supreme Head of the Church in England. For that he was convicted of high treason and executed.
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Petition for Freedom of Speech
In 1523, Thomas More was chosen to be Speaker of the House of Commons of Parliament. Hesitant to accept the post, he asked King Henry VIII to release him from the duty. The king refused his request and, accepting the position, More made a second request to King Henry: a request for free speech, the first such request known to be made. Like the Coronation Ode, this petition is a fascinating and important example of communication between More and Henry, and so is included in this volume of letters. The text is from William Roper’s Life of Sir Thomas More, modernized by Mary Gottschalk.
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Freedom, A Gift of God Pt.2

 

God’s love is a jealous love. He is not satisfied if we come to meet him with conditions. He longs for us to give ourselves completely, without keeping dark corners in our heart where the joy and happiness of grace and the supernatural gifts cannot reach. Perhaps you are thinking, “If I say ‘yes’ to this exclusive Love, might I not lose my freedom?”

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Freedom, A Gift of God Pt.1
I have often reminded you of that moving scene in the Gospel where Jesus is in Peter’s boat, from which he has been speaking to the people. The multitude following him has stirred the eagerness for souls which consumes his heart, and now the Divine Master wants his disciples to share his zeal. After telling them to launch out into the deep, duc in altum, 1 he suggests to Peter that he let down his nets for a catch.
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The Abandoned Tabernacle

Whenever he would write on the Eucharist, the man of God would encourage a slow meditative reading of his words, so as to let their truth penetrate into the heart. He wrote:

I would like these notes to be read very slowly, so as to give time for the head to learn, for the heart to be moved, and for the grace of God to go to work. After they have been read in this way, then ponder them in prayer before the tabernacle.

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Christ is Present in the Eucharist
AT THE MOMENT when the mother of St. Alexis recognized her son in the lifeless body of the beggar who had lived for thirty years under her palace stairway, she cried out: ‘O my son! That I should have known you so late! . . . ’ The soul, at the end of this life, will see at last him whom it possessed in the Eucharist; and, at sight of the consolations, the beauties, the riches that it has disregarded, it, too, will cry out: ‘O Jesus, my Life, my Treasure, my Love, to think that I should have known you so late! . . . ’. ”
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7 Steps to a Character Built on Virtue

“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” (Mk 10:17). As disciples of our Lord, we witness the scene together with the Apostles—and may find ourselves surprised by his answer: “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone” (Mk 10:18). Jesus does not give a direct reply. With gentle divine pedagogy, he wants to lead that man to an awareness of the deepest meaning of his longing: “Jesus shows that the young man’s question is really a religious question, and that the goodness that attracts and at the same time obliges man has its source in God, and indeed is God himself. God alone is worthy of being loved ‘with all one’s heart, and with all one’s soul, and with all one’s mind.’”

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The Match Made On a Train

By Olga Emily Marlin

The story of the Alvira couple began on wheels: the wheels of a Spanish train, in 1926. Paquita would never forget that day, January 23, when she saw Tomás for the first time.

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Help for Moody Mamas
Do you ever have those days when a dark cloud seems to be hanging over you? Perhaps you didn’t sleep well the night before or health problems are gnawing away at your energy and patience. Maybe your kids are particularly ornery and you can’t get them to stop squabbling, let alone get them to do their school work. Or maybe you had a marital disagreement which has left you feeling deflated and depressed. It sure is hard to be joyful and kind on such days, isn’t it?
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The Gift I Feared

By Thomas G. Mahala

It’s a girl!” The nurse announced. After the birth of seven healthy sons, those words should have brought great joy.

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