By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
As I noted in a previous posting, because I could not attend the celebration of the 35th anniversary of my graduation from the University of Notre Dame, I ended up having a reunion with myself. I foraged through some of my old college notebooks, tests and papers, including my theology papers. Many of them are way too long or far too academic (as if such was possible for me) to use in a blog, but one was just the right length.
The paper was written on October 22, 1982 for a class taught by well-known author and theologian Father John Dunne C.S.C. (1929-2013) (see: https://www.holycrossusa.org/obituaries/rev-john-s-dunne-csc/ ) Father Dunne was the John A. O’Brien (no relation) Professor of Catholic Theology at Notre Dame and his classes were very popular. When I took his class, he had asked the participants to choose a reading excerpt and reflect on the meaning of acceptance in our lives. Getting ready to attend law school the next year, I chose to write about Thomas More. Here is the excerpt and the paper…
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Margaret: “Father! (She runs to him in the center spot and flings herself upon him.) Father! Father. Father. Father. Father!”
More: “Have patience, Margaret, and trouble not thyself. Death comes for us all; even at our birth… (He holds her head and looks down at it for a moment in recollection)…even at our birth, death does but stand aside a little. And every day he looks towards us and muses somewhat to himself whether that day or the next he will draw nigh. It is the law of nature and the will of God. (He disengages from her. Dispassionately) You have long known the secrets of my heart.
(Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons)
More did not want to die. He loved his family, his work, and his friends. Yet, Thomas More was ready to die, and at this climactic moment of Bolt’s classic play, he disengages himself from the things of his life and listens fully to the secrets of his heart…intense desires and longing for complete union with the infinite God.
There are few better examples of someone living the inner life of love and knowledge than Thomas More. Each Friday, no matter how busy he was, he would set aside time for fasting, meditation, and prayer. He was thoroughly in touch with his self, and died preserving an integrity few can imagine, let alone possess.
This final and dramatic scene with his beloved daughter stands in significant contrast with his farewell to his family while still interned in the Tower of London. At this first farewell, More proved rather unwilling to release his family, and in the Gethsemane-like scene, he seems to want the cup of death to pass him by. As the encounter with death intensifies at his trial, More quietly accepts the will of God and lets his deep-seeded heart’s desire run its course. His breaking away from Meg is an important indication of More’s willingness to follow God. Meg represents all that is good and justifiable about More. When he lets go of her, he lets go of his life.
Confident of rebirth and new life, More merely advises his beloved Meg to be patient, he does not say goodbye. The man for all seasons has become the man for all eternity.
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Note: Thankfully, Father Dunne liked the paper. In brief transcribed comments he urged me to continue to seek “the real secret of the heart’s desire.” I am still working on it more than 35 years later.
