Evil remains, and evil reigns, when good men remain silent
MASS Gaudeámus
EPISTLE Hebrews 5: 1-6
GOSPEL John 10: 11-16
HOMILIST Mt Revd Jerome Lloyd OSJV
Beloved in Christ, welcome to this broadcast Mass on this, as we said, the octave day of the Feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury. In other places, of course, the Vigil Mass of Epiphany will be celebrated, but in the UK, from long tradition, today is the Octave of St. Thomas, and thus the Epiphany Vigil is commemorated.
Only yesterday, on the Octave of the Holy Innocents, the Church forced us to look steadily at a dreadful truth: that the greatest evils in history are often not unleashed by rage, but enabled by silence.
Herod’s decree did not require hatred from every man who carried it out. It required order, obedience, procedure. Children died while systems functioned smoothly and consciences remained quiet.
Today, Holy Church does not change that lesson. She completes it. On this Octave Day of St. Thomas of Beckett, she shows us what happens when silence is refused.
To understand Beckett, we must understand Clarendon.
In January 1164, King Henry II of England and France summoned bishops and nobles to his palace at Clarendon and presented what he called the customs of the realm: sixteen measured administrative articles later known as the Constitutions of Clarendon. Their language was calm, legal, and apparently reasonable. Their effect would have been, however, catastrophic.
Appeals to Rome were to be restricted. Clergy were to be subjected to royal courts. Bishops were to govern only with royal consent. The Church would not be destroyed, but she would be managed. And a managed Church is no longer a Church that can say no.
Most complied—some reluctantly, some eagerly—many persuading themselves that resistance was impractical, that compromise would preserve peace, that this was a matter of process rather than principle.
Thomas himself wavered briefly under the pressure. Then he recognised the truth and withdrew his assent, judging that he had sinned against conscience. That withdrawal changed everything.
Clarendon was not a dispute over medieval legal technicalities. It was a contest over lordship. Either the Church exercised authority received from God, or she exercised it by permission of the state. There was no neutral ground.
Beckett saw what others would not: once conscience is subordinated administratively, it is already lost.
This is why the Church gives us this Epistle today: “Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God.” Priesthood and episcopal authority are not privileges granted by power. They are divine trusts. Clarendon demanded that bishops behave as though their authority were borrowed. Beckett refused to live that lie.
And so the Gospel presses the point to its edge. “The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” The hireling does not hate the sheep. He simply decides that survival is sensible and resistance unrealistic. He steps aside, and the wolf scatters the flock.
Clarendon produced many hirelings. Beckett refused to become one.
History confirms the pattern with grim precision. Four centuries later, the same logic returned. Now Henry VIII. Again, no immediate demand to deny Christ— instead oaths, statutes, legal recognitions, words crafted to make surrender look responsible. Clarendon sought to manage the Church. Henry VIII sought to replace her.
Again, most complied. And again, one man named Thomas would not move. This time, Sir Thomas More. His resistance was not loud. It was juridical, measured, and immovable. He would not sign. He would not affirm what he knew to be false. And when the machinery of the state finally crushed him, his last words cut through every age of accommodation: “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Now today, this history turns toward us.
Many today recognise the ills of our society. They see moral confusion, bureaucratised injustice, harm done politely and efficiently. Within the Church too, we have endured a similar trial: the infiltration of modernism through progressivism in polity, doctrine, discipline, and sacraments. And people ask, often sincerely and with fatigue, “But what can we do?”
The saints answer with uncomfortable clarity.
Evil remains, and evil reigns, when good men remain silent. Not because silence is dramatic, but because it is effective.
Herod needed administrators. Henry II needed signatures. Henry VIII needed oaths. In every age, injustice advances less by shouting than by procedure, paperwork, and the quiet decision not to be the one who resists.
Clarendon teaches us this with ruthless clarity. Tyranny rarely announces itself with brutality. It arrives as custom, order, process, and reasonableness. Resistance is dismissed as impractical. Conscience is labelled obstinacy. Silence is rewarded.
Beloved in Christ, the question before us today is not, “What can we do?” but: Where are we being asked to sign? Where are we being asked to affirm what we know is false? Where are we being asked to remain professionally or socially silent for the sake of peace?
Christmas does not end in sentiment. It ends in decision. The Child of Bethlehem reigns, and because He reigns, neutrality is an illusion. The Holy Innocents show us the cost of silence. Thomas Beckett shows us the cost of standing. Thomas More shows us that even silence—when it is refusal rather than surrender—can be martyrdom.
God does not ask many to die for the truth, but He asks all not to sign it away.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Homilies Archive
Mass Propers
DAILY MASS ONLINE
One of the earliest online apostolates dedicated to the Traditional Latin Mass, Old Roman TV began broadcasting the Holy Sacrifice on the Feast of the Assumption, 15 August 2008. During the COVID-19 pandemic, additional programming — devotions, catechesis, and conferences — was added to support the faithful in prayer and formation.
Support the daily Holy Mass on Old Roman TV by offering a Mass intention — for loved ones, thanksgiving, or the repose of souls. Your intention helps sustain the sacred liturgy and brings grace to those you remember before God’s altar.
SUPPORT THE DAILY MASS ONLINE
Likely the world’s longest-running daily online broadcast of the
Traditional Latin Mass, streaming faithfully since the
Feast of the Assumption 2008.
This apostolate cannot continue without immediate help
Please support us with a contribution toward
chapel rent, sacristy supplies, operating costs, and web-hosting.
Our essential monthly costs reach £1,000.
Leave a Reply