{"id":2217,"date":"2012-12-29T09:59:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-29T09:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/12\/who-will-rid-me-of-this-meddlesome-priest.html"},"modified":"2012-12-29T09:59:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-29T09:59:00","slug":"who-will-rid-me-of-this-meddlesome-priest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/12\/who-will-rid-me-of-this-meddlesome-priest.html","title":{"rendered":"Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/a><\/div>\n


<\/span>No, it\u2019s not a wishful headline on CNN blog, it\u2019s the popularly quoted lament of King Henry II of England regarding that\u00a0meddlesome\u00a0Thomas a\u2019 Becket. \u00a0It\u2019s odd that so many days of Christmas are spent\u00a0commemorating\u00a0martyrs. \u00a0Just\u00a0yesterday\u00a0 we remembered the\u00a0martyrdom\u00a0of the Holy Innocents. \u00a0The day after Christmas, we honored St. Stephen the Deacon, famously martyred while St. Paul stood nearby holding\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0cloaks of those doing the stoning. \u00a0<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>It\u2019s an odd thing to unpack, the historic approach to Christmas. \u00a0If you look at the whole Christmas celebration, it\u2019s beyond even what Linus enlightens Charlie Brown about. \u00a0There\u2019s something very holistic about the Church\u2019s historic approach to the Incarnation. \u00a0Far from a simple throwaway holiday slapped on nearby pagan solstice festivals, it is a rather methodical approach reminding us of just what our faith is all about. \u00a0From the\u00a0preparation\u00a0of Advent, to the joy of the Nativity, to the Feast of Epiphany, it walks us through the important highlights. \u00a0<\/span><\/span>

But along the way, we stop to reflect on a few of those who were true\u00a0heroes\u00a0of the faith, or at least who paid a price for the faith so many would be hard pressed to pay. \u00a0The message? \u00a0For all the gifts and giving, for all the wrapping and tinsel, for all the carols and after-Christmas sales, the real point is remembering what God did for us, while also throwing out a few days to remember what this cost to those around the event, or who believed in the event enough to pay the ultimate price. \u00a0It reminds us of the evil in the world that God had to save us from in the first place.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Becket\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>martyrdom\u00a0is one of the most famous of all, with pilgrimages to Canterbury being among the most popular in the Middle Ages. \u00a0Through this fact, and Chaucer\u2019s own writing on the subject, most people have at least heard something of the story, enough not to bother repeating here. \u00a0Oddly, the events would be repeated in some ways centuries later, when another St. Thomas ran afoul of another King Henry. \u00a0<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n


<\/span><\/span>In both of these cases, the crux of the issue was a man who was on friendly terms with a king, being forced to stand his ground on what he\u00a0<\/span>believed<\/span>\u00a0to be right. \u00a0In both cases, it was standing against someone who the respective Thomas actually liked, someone he considered a friend. \u00a0Sometimes, as Dumbledore points out, it\u2019s standing up to a friend that can be toughest of all. \u00a0And yet stand they did, even to the point of death.<\/span><\/p>\n

This Christmas has brought attention to a couple feasts that are often overlooked. \u00a0The horror of Newtown put a different spin on the oft overlooked Feast of the Holy Innocents. \u00a0Our parish had a special service for that yesterday, quite moving with young people leading us in a rosary. \u00a0I wish more had come. \u00a0Today, we remember a man who, despite his close relationship with the ruling power, was forced to stand against the wishes of a monarch, a monarch with power of life and death. \u00a0In the case of both Thomases, they chose death rather than compromise. \u00a0As we will be heading into a new era in American History, where the first attempt to control religious thought from the Federal level will be\u00a0enacted,\u00a0 drawing on this day for inspiration couldn\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n

Will the Bishops really stand their ground? \u00a0I hope. \u00a0They\u2019ve put so much on the line, if they back down now, expect all\u00a0credibility\u00a0\u2013 that which is left following the scandals and the general lack of fealty to Church teaching in the American Church \u2013 to go down the tubes. \u00a0But it will also demand courage from the Catholic faithful. \u00a0For it isn\u2019t just a bunch of Church hating atheists or barbarians at the gates who will be screaming loudest at the Bishops for resisting, it will be Catholics in the pews who have long ago cast aside the Church as only beneficial when it conforms to the latest progressive movement. \u00a0Yes, conservative Catholics can be guilty of the same, but this isn\u2019t their great hour. \u00a0The gauntlet has been thrown, and we will have to see what comes of those Catholics who have long embraced the post-Christian worldview. \u00a0Will they see the writing on the wall and join the cause? \u00a0Or will they stand alongside the growing menace in the east, and dare their friends and fellow Catholics to resist? \u00a0Or will there be those who do neither, and prefer to sit in the bleachers and cast scorn on everyone else for not being as hip as they are? <\/p>\n

We\u2019ll have to see. \u00a0But for those who pray the Bishops stand their ground, and for those who are willing to take a similar stand, even if it costs a friend or two, we could do worse than looking to this day, when we remember a man who had much more to lose by standing firm. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No, it\u2019s not a wishful headline on CNN blog, it\u2019s the popularly quoted lament of King Henry II of England regarding that\u00a0meddlesome\u00a0Thomas a\u2019 Becket. \u00a0It\u2019s odd that so many days of Christmas are spent\u00a0commemorating\u00a0martyrs. \u00a0Just\u00a0yesterday\u00a0 we remembered the\u00a0martyrdom\u00a0of the Holy Innocents. \u00a0The day after Christmas, we honored St. Stephen the Deacon, famously martyred while St. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWho will rid me of this meddlesome priest?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"No, it's not a wishful headline on CNN blog, it's the popularly quoted lament of King Henry II of England 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