The Tudors

I just finished watching the Tudors, a TV series on the reign of the infamous King Henry the VIII, of which there are 38 episodes. At first I thought the series was too much of a sexy soap opera but soon I have to admit I found it absolutely fascinating.
I learned many things from watching this series.
History was brought to vivid life as I was lured into the constantly shifting politics of the Royal Court at a time when the Reformation was taking hold in Europe. Having been raised a Catholic in Ireland and remembering Mass said in Latin I got a deeper understanding of the grip of Rome on its distant subjects and of the difficulties involved in breaking with tradition and old beliefs.
Having grown up with the effects of tension between Protestant and Catholic in my country I got to see in this TV series some of the roots of the divisions in their rituals and loyalties. Of course in Ireland the tension was also deeply linked to oppressor, (the English Protestants) and the oppressed (Irish Catholics.) It was as if the country held more firmly to it's beliefs because of the persecution.

Change is never easy and it was not in England either; this breaking from Rome, for the peasantry of that country were as much oppresses as those in Ireland. There was no religious freedom for them as their monasteries were sacked and the lands handed to those in the King's favor.

And presently in Ireland, after all the years of fighting for Catholicism, the churches are greatly depleted as scandals and rigidity leave a sour taste in a society jaded and skeptical as economic boom was followed quickly by a return to austerity. In the light of all those burned at the stake, hanged drawn and quartered, beheaded and more, I wonder at the world of men.

I am left with a line from the series resounding amid all the other thoughts and ideas and it is this...

'Praise the God of all, drink the wine, and let the world be the world.'

Amen.