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The Sadness of Christ (Yale University Press Translation)

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St. Thomas More writes a series of meditations on the passion of Christ in this short volume, beginning with the betrayal of the Iscariot and ends with the actual capture and trial of Jesus. More wrote this volume while contemplating his upcoming martyrdom; while seeing his friends from the London Carthusian Charterhouse being martyred; while receiving messages of encouragement from Bishop John Fisher, who resided in worse conditions in the cell below him in the infamous Tower of London.

This volume is a wonderful volume for meditation, but needs to be taken slowly. More was not one for long, flowery sentences, and thus wrote very simply. The initial urge is to read quickly. It is best to take in each word with this volume and picture Christ's suffering in one's mind while reading. A good book.

I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is one great meditation on Our Lord's passion. St. Thomas More is clear and succint. He takes ideas to their logical conclusion, and definitely has a gift in this regard- the gifts that made him a great lawyer and statesman, as well as a glorious martyr are quite prominent in his meditations. He'll remind you to pray like you're speaking to God and love like God Himself suffered & died for you. I really liked the book and I have no doubt that it helped me grow in my knowledge of God's love, myself, and my response to God's love.

St. Martha Parish in Okemos, Michigan Bulletin Book Club March 2002 Selection Fr. Jonathan Wehrle, Pastor
As Roman Catholics we accept that we will die to this earth and be born into another. Our religion is rich in historic saints whose sufferings and trials mirror our contemporary human reaction to impending death. St. Thomas More is an example. He refused, even when faced with execution and death in Renaissance England, to deny his Christian life. Rather, he focused "sharply on Christ's human reaction to His approaching death." [p. v]
St. Thomas More wrote his last book with the purpose of contrasting "Christ's way of acting with our own." [p. vi] More, a lawyer and judge, served King Henry VIII as Chancellor of the Roman Catholic Church of England until he resigned in protest at the actions the king was taking to destroy the Catholic Church in England. While King Henry VIII did sunder the Church of England from Rome and further abused human and religious rights, it was not without the ultimate protest from More. Reflecting upon Christ's steadfastness provided solace for More in the Tower of London awaiting trial and his last confession and execution.
This final work of St. Thomas More's shares his reflections on the Passion and Death of Christ. Christ as fully God begged as man his Father to remove the passion to come, but humbly submitted when the choice was presented. More concludes from this that while Christ made distinctions, we also "sometimes apply to our whole selves things which actually are true only of the soul [made in the image and likeness of God], and on the other hand we sometimes speak of our selves when strict accuracy would require us to speak of our bodies alone." [p. 30]
More, seeming quite contemporary, includes a Collection of Scriptural Quotes and Reflections and presents the case for such as right reason as a key to the next world, but also for making ourselves every day "living members, sweet Savior Christ, of Your holy mystical body, Your Catholic Church." [p. 154] While More did not wish to die to this world, he reflects that "Whoever saves his life in such a way that he displeases God shall soon afterwards, with no little grief, find his life thoroughly displeasing." [p. 144]
More's work in this text unmistakeably imprints the imagery in todays Catholic Church as one body of people called Church with Christ as its Head.

More's strength to face his imminent excecution leads him to ponder on Christ's Passion. His marvellous way of looking at life and man in the midst of political turbulence and of struggling against a tide of King Henry VIII followers gives us the necessary strength to strive in difficult situations and to think that happiness and love can be found in the detachmentof material things and as close followers of Christ's example

Until reading this book, I had difficulting meditating on the agony in the garden. Thomas More takes the Gospels' descriptions of the event and commentates on them with a weatlh of saintly knowledge and scholarship. St. Thoms truly opened up this portion of the Gospels for me and deapened my understanding of them. This is must reading annually during lent.

The last book Saint Thomas More wrote before his execution and eventual Martyrdom. This is one of the most eloquent and thought provoking
books that I have ever read. It ranks up their with Thomas Merton's Seven Story Mountain and ST Augustine's Confessions. Take for instance More's
thoughts on prayer in answer to the great question why should we pray?
Should we pray for Wealth, or Fame, or health, or maybe a long life.No, it is our Lord himself who not only teaches us how to pray, but what to pray for. It is in the Lord's prayer (The Our Father) that we find out this great mystery which is we our to pray in order to free us from all
temptations.

This book is a collection of writings from St. Thomas More during his imprisonment in the Tower of London before he was executed. The main text is "The Sadness of Christ," a spiritual reflection on the gospel accounts of Jesus and his apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He died. Also included are a collection of scriptural quotes and reflections, Imploring Divine Help Against Temptation, How to Treat Those Who Wrong Us, On Saving One's Life, A Meditation on Detachment, and A Prayer Before Dying.

I read this book as spiritual reading for the end of Lent, that is, during Holy Week. I found it very inspirational and instructive. More has very down to earth advice on prayer and is quite emphatic on prayer's importance in resisting temptation and fulfilling God's Will. The need for focus is brought out in the contrast between the sleepy apostles who want to do good but don't follow through and Judas who wants to do an evil and is quite focused and ready. More points out that this is a constant problem in the history of the church. The good clergy (bishops and priests) don't act with fervor and determination while those who want to bring the Church down are focused and energized. Luckily, with Jesus's example, the good people can overcome the lethargy to which they are tempted by using prayer and accepting of God's will. More brings this out quite well by noting how Jesus turns from His fearful prayer for this cup to pass to His astounding the crowd of armed men so much with His courage that they fall back away from Him.

There are lots of great spiritual nuggets in here. I will be reading this again next year for Holy Week!

A profound expression of devotion to our Lord's agony and passion. This timeless book reveals More's feelings about the true nature of Jesus' agony. It also expresses his cautionary statements to avoid careless or inattentive prayer. I liked the analogy of seeing the body as simply the garment of the soul. This book makes wonderful Lenten reading and study.

Thomas More on Forgiveness

"The Sadness of Christ" by Thomas More is most excellent Lenten reading. He is reported to have been a deeply prayerful husband, father, lawyer, who rose to Speaker of the House of Commons, was knighted, and became the first layperson to be Lord Chancellor of England.

When a royal proclamation ordered the clergy to acknowledge Henry VIII as "Supreme Head" of the Church, More offered his resignation which was not accepted. Although he avowed his loyalty to the king, he refused to take the Oath of Succession, which had a clause repudiating "any foreign authority, prince or potentate"; i.e. the pope. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London, continuing his writing with bits of charcoal, until martyred by beheading at Tower Hill July 6, 1535. Sir Thomas More was canonized (recognized as a saint) in 1935 by Pope Pius XI.

What impressed me was his short but poignant writing on forgiveness, which gave a peek into his own Christ-like forgiving of Henry VIII, whom he had loyally served, but whose ego settled for nothing less than More's head. It can be read and re-read as a challenge to personal spirituality regardless of faith, calling for the ultimate loyalty:

"Bear no malice or evil will to any man living. For either the man is good or wicked. If he is good and I hate him, then I am wicked. If he is wicked, either he will amend and die good and go to God, or live wickedly and die wickedly and go to the devil. And then let me remember that if he be saved, he will not fail (if I am saved too, as I trust to be) to love me very heartily, and I shall then in like manner love him. And why should I now, then, hate one for this while who shall hereafter love me forever more, and why should I be now, then, an enemy to him with whom I shall in time be coupled in eternal friendship? And, on the other side, if he will continue to be wicked and be damned, then is there such outrageous eternal sorrow before him that I may well think myself a deadly cruel wretch if I would not now rather pity his pain than malign his person..."