...saved souls in heaven together

Friday of Week 11 in Ordinary Time

St. Thomas More, Martyr (1469-1535)

I still remember the first time I watched the film “A Man for All Seasons.” It is one you keep coming back to.  I think it is the conviction…no, not just the conviction but the ethos behind the conviction…that makes me wonder.  The movie poster is a kind of icon of this ethos: Thomas, in a firm, but soft stance.  King Henry VIII, mouth wide open and forceful, hands powerfully on hips.

When in prison, Thomas More composed the following prayer which has since been given the title, A Prayer for Our Enemies.  I am hard-pressed to name ‘enemies’, certainly none keen to behead.  But I love the humility and genuine love that Thomas More has for his very real enemies.  And I can see how praying this prayer might help me break down my own barriers that close me off from those who I am quick to ignore, belittle or condemn.  

Read it slowly...the language needs our pause.

Almighty God,

Have mercy on --- and ---,

            and on all that bear me evil will,

            and would me harm,

            and their faults and mine together
                        by such easy, tender, merciful means
                        as thine infinite best can devise;

            vouchsafe to amend and redress
                        and make us saved souls in heaven together,

            where we may ever live in love together
                        with thee and thy blessed saints,

            O glorious Trinity,

            for the bitter passion of our sweet Saviour Christ.  Amen.

Lord, give me patience in tribulation and grace in everything,
            to conform my will to thine,

            that I may truly say: “Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra”.
                                                             (Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven)

The things, good Lord,

            that I pray for,
            give me thy grace to labour for.  Amen.