Blogday 2014: Cut off in whose prime?

On Monday, this little blogling celebrated its ninth birthday, and I wasn't around to post. The power cable to my internet router failed and I had to wait for a week for a new one.

Initially, it was rather a tense time for me, but, as Christmas came and went, I found myself not really missing the internet and indeed feeling a bit better from staring at a screen for so long. All those emails and pages and social media that I stare at daily clearly have an effect. Therefore, I am going to be cutting down my internet usage this year which means that while I have a bumper crop of posts for 2014, I don't aim to post as much in 2015. This may relieve some of you.

December 29th is also the feast of St Thomas Becket and I am beginning to think that he has the potential to be a very important saint for the Church in England. St Thomas was killed by a king for defending the Church. He was revered by the Church, but his veneration was suppressed by another king eager for reform and eager to have the Church under his control. Despite the destruction of his shrine, St Thomas is still well known today though perhaps not as well as he might be. He suffers greatly from being cut off repeatedly. He keeps coming back though.

Yet he continues to be known. You can't keep a good saint down! For me he represents the outcome of the World's struggle for control of the Church. The Church of England is under control of parliament who want their agenda to be enacted within their "spiritual wing". The result is that the Catholic Faith has been lost within the Established Church. That's not to say that the Catholic Faith has been extinguished in England, but it does struggle for existence. Continuing Anglicans, Old Roman Catholics and other Catholics in England would do well to consider the case of St Thomas Becket.

Perseverance is paramount for all who stand outside the gates of state and politically run religion. The Sun of Righteousness is certainly born in our midst but we do have to turn to face Him and open our eyes to Him. We need to ensure that it is His love and His commandments that are realised in ourselves before we can hope to bring the Catholic Faith back to Great Britain.

Perhaps the new year may bring about another resurgence of Anglican Catholicism. I certainly pray it and I ask St Thomas to pray for it too.