22 June 2017
Memorial of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, Martyrs
God is good, and yet today Paul tells us that God is jealous. Moreover, Paul says that “I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God.” All throughout the Old Testament, God says through His prophets that He wants an exclusive love with Israel, and that He will not tolerate any actions which divide the Israelites hearts. It is right for God to be jealous, because God cares about us, cares about every bit of us, and wants us whole-heartedly. Paul is reiterating this, and telling the Corinthians that God cares very much about their actions, and whether their actions divide their hearts between God and the world.
Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Thomas More, who before he was executed declared “I die the king’s faithful servant, but God’s first.” More understood very clearly God’s jealousy, and how much God cared about what he did in both in the political realm and in the sanctuary of his own conscience. More was a man of integrity through and through, with his private life, his political life, and his faith life all forming one harmony–all guided by his fidelity to God above all. While we may not be called to martyrdom like More, he nonetheless shows us what a life given wholly to our jealously loving God looks like.