Thomas a Becket

From today's reading: And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it. 2 John 1:6

I have talked about the commandments on any number of occasions. Some people like to harp on particular commandments, but I prefer to understand them as a whole before looking at the individual commandments. Looked at as a whole, they are the sum of everything that we need in order to live a life in harmony with God, with nature and with our fellow man; in other words what we need to live a life of love. The first four teach us what we need to live in relation to God; and the last six teach us what we need to live in relation to each other. They are about treating each other with respect and when we respect other people, regardless of who they are, then we are indeed showing them the love of God.

The following is the beginning of an interesting article concerning today's saint by James Kiefer; "On December 29, we remember Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, slain in his own cathedral in 1170, for his defiance of King Henry II. The death of Thomas reminds us that a Christian, even when safe from pagans, can be in danger from his fellow-Christians. It also reminds us that one can be martyred in a cause where the merits of the particular issue at hand are not obvious to all men of good will."

To read the whole article please go to: http://www.missionstclare.com/english/December/morning/29m.html