Today is the 5th Day of Christmas.
The Church also remembers St. Thomas Beckett, Bishop and Martyr.
Ora pro nobis.
Born in AD 1118, Thomas eventually became the Archbishop of Canterbury. In AD 1170, Thomas was brutally murdered after he confronted the king for his seeking to exert power over the life of the Church.
"What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?", said the king. Four knights took this as a royal command, and later burst into the cathedral at night, and brutally murdered him as he clung to the altar.
May we follow his example of allegiance to the Faith over allegiance to human authorities, civic or ecclesiastical, even at the cost of our lives. For those who stand up to those who abuse power, who refuse to be bullied into betraying their conscience or faith, who work for liberty in conscience and freedom of religion, St. Thomas Beckett, pray for us.
O God, our strength and our salvation, you called your servant Thomas Becket to be a shepherd of your people and a defender of your Church: Keep your household from all evil and raise up among us faithful pastors and leaders who are wise in the ways of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ the shepherd of our souls, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
