Patron of honor

Tomorrow, June 22, is the liturgical feast day of Saints Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher. Both were beheaded in 1535 by order of King Henry VIII over the controversy of his divorce and of authority in the governance of the Church.

As noted on our "Links" page and elsewhere, ProLifeStrike.org is closely associated with The World St. Thomas More Society, which claims these two martyrs as patron saints. This patronage is significant, especially in the case of St. Thomas More.

More was a lawyer, and chancellor to King Henry. He was, so to speak, the King's right hand man as well as a close friend. As such, he was doubly committed to loyal obedience to Henry and to the authority of the Crown. More's natural disposition was to hold the King in high honor, and to obey him as a loyal subject. This spirit of obedience was reflected as well in his devotion to Christ's Kingship, and to divinely established authority in the Church.

Obedience to these various levels of proper authority is a single virtue; there ought never be a conflict. But when it came down to a painful decision, when More could no longer obey both King and God, his choice was clear. His last words were, "I die the King's good servant, but God's first."

The significance for us is this: We pro-lifers have a natural inclination to obey proper authority, and it rends our hearts to make the painful decision to disobey. As discussed in our "Manifesto", in the final analysis pro-life tax resistance is not unlawful. Abortion is always a crime, and to fund it is to breech God's Law. The decision to resist paying taxes that subsidize the criminal abortion industry is prompted, not by an outlaw attitude, but by a love of Law, and by an earnest effort to obey true Law.

St. Thomas, pray for us, that we may cultivate a strong love for true Law, and that we may courageously obey God's Law first.