Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate

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Morning Prayer with the Oblate Family on the Feast of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More
With Fr Ray Warren OMI

morning prayer june 22nd
Good morning everyone and welcome to De Mazenod House, Tower Hill in London where we join Fr Ray Warren, Director of the De Mazenod House Retreat and Spirituality Centre.
 
Today is the Feast of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, martyrs from the English Reformation. They were executed very close to where Fr Ray is in Tower Hill at the Tower of London in 1535. In the centre there are two beautiful icons that were painted or written, as is said, by Father Sabeesh Jacob, who works with the Oblates in Kilburn and has helped us in his teaching of beautiful art. You can see at Saint Thomas, more depicted as Chancellor of England with his chain of office and Bishop John Fisher in his robes as the Bishop carrying the scriptures.
 
It said that just before his execution, St Thomas Moore said, ‘I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first’. So these two figures were canonized by Pope Pius the 11th in 1935, and John Paul, the second, declared the Saint Thomas more patron saint of statesmen and politicians. Nowadays we are beyond those sad stories of the Reformation. We are a community of ecumenism. And in fact, In Tower Hill, the Oblate communities work closely with the Anglican Church in service of migrants in the city. We work closely together in sharing our faith and in the social needs around us. So things have moved on, thank God so much since then. Today’s gospel is beautiful, because it introduces Jesus’ very prayer to all of us – the Our Father.
 
Thank you for praying with us today.
 
 

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