Rector’s Reflections
Thursday 6th February 2025
Why Thomas More Matters
In yesterday’s reflections, I shared some thoughts on Thomas’ Dialogue of Comfort, which he wrote while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. When Thomas had finished this work, it turned out that he had time to write another book as well, before the time came when he would led out for execution. We can imagine Thomas setting down to write, knowing that at anytime he might be led out to die. This knowledge would certainly serve to focus the mind. Imagine yourself in Thomas’ position. The end might come at any moment. You are a faithful Christian, and you know you will be executed because of your sincerely held beliefs. You have the opportunity to put your thoughts down on paper. You will hope they will be read by your friends and family after your death. So what do say? What do you write about?
Thomas decided to write a spiritual book about the death of Jesus, with the title Treatise on the Passion. Thomas began writing it in English, and then moved into Latin. I do not know why Thomas made this change. As a skilled Humanist, he was equally at home in both English and Latin. Perhaps he was thinking that his work might be of interest to Christians in other countries, so it made sense to switch to Latin, which would be widely understood by Christians and academics throughout Western Europe. One his grandchildren, Mary Basset, later translated the Latin into English, so that the work could reach a wider audience.
For a Christian facing the prospect of death, it made sense to meditate and reflect on the Passion of Christ. It was also a popular form of spirituality in the Late Middle Ages, and Thomas’ spirituality was formed during this period. He is often associated with all the new beginnings which were so much part of 16th Century Europe, especially the Renaissance and the Reformation, but I think it is better to see Thomas as a flower of the Late Middle Ages. After all, Thomas was born back in the 1478, and it was not until he well into his 30s or even 40s before English culture and society began to make any significant move away from the world of the Middle Ages.
By the time Thomas came to write his Treatise on the Passion, he was a frightened man. Yes, he had a confident faith. But he was also a human being, and he was understandably fearful. He knew that he was about to be executed, and it was quite possible that he would he would killed in a particularly gruesome fashion. Thomas was fearful, and we think the better of him for this.
So Thomas writes for fearful Christians – to comfort his friends and family, and perhaps above all, to comfort himself. And in the course of his writing, he imagines Christ speaking the following words:
“Pluck up thy courage, faint heart; what though thou be fearful, sorry and weary, and standest in great dread of most painful torments, be of good comfort; for I myself have vanquished the whole world, and yet felt I far mor fear, sorrow, weariness, and much more inward anguish, too, when I considered my most bitter, painful Passion to press so fast upon me”.
“Pluck up thy courage”. How often we need to hear Jesus speaking those words to us in our own lives, as we face our various trials and tribulations. “Pluck up thy courage” might well be an excellent motto for any Christian’s life.