Salvation Sunday: Remember remember the 5th of November; Catholics and Guy Fawkes.

So, this post is a little late, seeings as it is the 6th and not the 5th. First thing first I'll give a little history on Guy Fawkes, Guido Fawkes became a Catholic when his mother remarried a Catholic man after the death of her husband. Once Guido grew up he went to fight the Eighty Years war with the Spanish. The Eighty Years war was fought between Catholic Spain and the Protestant Dutch. Guido changed his name to Guy during the war. When Guy returned to England, he and 12 other men devised the gunpowder plot, the plot to blow up parliament and King James the first. This plot failed, Guy was caught, and sentenced to death. Guy met a gruesome end when he jumped from the gallows, breaking his neck, to escape being hung drawn and quartered.
                             

                             
Most people probably only know Guy Fawkes for this mask.

Over all Guy Fawkes was a failure, his plot failed and he died. Yup, I would call that a failure. But was he? Let's back up a little and talk about Guy Fawkes being Catholic. What should we as Catholics think of Guy Fawkes? Obviously we know that trying to blow up the king goes against Church teachings, but let's put King James into the spotlight. Why would a Catholic man try to kill his king? Because King James was oppressive to the Catholics,  being a Protestant king himself. What should we ( Catholics) do when we are being oppressed by the government? Stand up for ourselves. And no, we should not blow them up, that would not be good. We should never go down without a fight, even if it isn't a physical fight, maybe it's a debate or maybe it is a physical fight. In modern day times it may seem like we won't be oppressed, but we are being oppressed, by the media, by the government, and by other religious denominations. Today ( or really yesterday) in England people celebrated Guy Fawkes day by burning a dummy that looked like Guy Fawkes.  They believe that they beat Guy Fawkes back in 1605, but did they? He seems like a failure, but Guy Fawkes' face ( mask above) is the face of rebellion. By wearing the Guy Fawkes mask people say that they will go against the government, against oppressors and the such.  He seems like a failure, but he's not, even today hundreds of years later he is making an impact. So the Church doesn't approve of Guy Fawkes' actions but I tip my hat to him. Whenever you are being oppressed remember a certain English man who stood up for his faith. Always remember remember the 5th of November.

Whistle while you work,
                            Emma