Good Courage

Grant us, O Lord,
The royalty of inward happiness
And the serenity which comes
from living close to Thee.
Do Thou daily renew in us
The sense of Joy
so that by Thy Spirit,
We may bear about us
The infection of good courage.

Thomas More, 1478-1535, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532. He wrote Utopia, published in 1516, which describes the political system of an imaginary island state. More opposed Henry VIII's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and executed. On his execution, he was reported to have said: "I die the King's good servant, and God's first".