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St. John Fisher on charity

vaticanToday is St. Thomas More’s feast day, and jointly the feast of his lesser-known fellow martyr, St. John Fisher, an English cardinal who (like St. Thomas) was executed by order of King Henry VIII. 

St. John FisherIn our archdiocese, St. John Fisher is patron of the parish based in Newtown.

Here’s some of what he had to say about charity:

• “The more that any prayer is grounded in charity, the sooner it shall be heard of Him whose commandment is all charity.”

•  “The heat of charity spread in our hearts gives evidence that the light of faith is lively.”

•  “Nevertheless if a man had such a faith yet if he wanted the heat of charity he were but as a dead tree.”

•  “Grant me, good Lord, my soul to be replete with the fatness of charity and also that the outward parts of my body may be fulfilled with good works.”

And this, the conclusion of his Prayer Written in the Tower as he awaited execution:

“I beseech thee to shed upon my heart thy most Holy Spirit by whose gracious presence I may be warmed, heated, and kindled with the spiritual fire of charity and with the sweetly burning love of all godly affections, that I may fastly set my heart, soul, and mind upon Thee, and assuredly trust that Thou art my very loving Father, and according to the same trust I may love with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my power.

Amen.”

 


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