Date: June 22, 2020 ()

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My last assignment before coming here was a parish with 4 big mining companies. The mayor and the rest of the local officials along the way became my friends and one time asked me the controversial question. “What is your position, father, on mining issues?” I did not want to hurt them so I answered them like a politician would: “As long as it is responsible mining, I don’t have problems with it.” My advice was actually a myth. By far, inasmuch as mining is concerned, there is no such thing as responsible mining back in our area. And I was guilty of not speaking for what our local church was advocating: We are pro-environment!

We celebrate today the Memorial of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More. Both are Chancellors, in Cambridge and England respectively. They were once some of the most trusted peoples of King Henry VIII until one day these two chancellors defied the wish of the king in favor of the truth proclaimed by the gospel. Thomas More would not support the king’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Nor would he acknowledge the King as supreme head of the church in England, breaking with Rome and denying the pope. John Fisher, on the other hand, was also asked to study the problem of Henry VIII’s marriage. He provoked Henry’s anger by defending the validity of the king’s marriage with Catherine and later by rejecting Henry’s claim to be the supreme head of the church of England. Both saints did not compromise their own moral values in order to please the king.

We have here today two great examples of faithfulness to the gospel and loyalty to Christ. Life could have been easier for both saints, had they just acquiesced to the king’s fancy. But they chose the truth which led their way to Calvary, to martyrdom like Christ’s.

In the first reading, we are told that the Lord put Israel away out of his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left. For what reason did they incur God’s great anger? Because they venerated other gods, they followed the rites of the nations, they were as stiff-necked as their fathers and rejected the covenant.

Yesterday’s Sunday gospel was meant to encourage us to be faithful to the Lord. Good things wait for all of us who follow his ways. Like the laws of the nations, the laws of the kingdom of God to impose consequences of our choices and decisions. Those who commit treason to God for compromising the truth in favor of the worldly gods and lords will also be dealt with accordingly. Yet we must remember: the transitory pain we get for resisting the worldly temptations is nothing compared to the eternal torment in Gehenna.