When the holy and venerable Brigit heard this story, she was so moved to pity that she ordered her chariot to be yoked. Filled with deep grief for the unfortunate man who had been unfairly condemned and pouring out prayers to the Lord, she traveled across the plain and followed the road that led to the royal palace…When she arrived at the palace, she began to beseech the king to release the poor man, who had incurred guilt through his own ignorance, to free him from his chains.
– Cogitosus, The Life of St. Brigid the Virgin
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
– Luke 4.18, 19 (Isaiah 61.1, 2)
A near-tragic mistake
The story has some resonance with the pre-Christian Celtic story about Cu Chulainn, the young hero who accidently killed a king’s favorite hound and then had to take the dog’s place as his guard.
Think that’s just a coincidence?
A man had come to the palace on some business and, when he entered the grounds, he saw a fox. Foxes were known as hen-house raiders, plus their fur could be of some value. So the man, thinking he was doing a good work, shot and killed the fox with an arrow in plain view of a group of people. The people seized him and bound him and had him taken before the king. For the fox he had ignorantly and innocently killed happened to be the king’s pet.
Ever had one of those days?
The king sentenced the man to death and his family to be sold into slavery “unless he could produce a fox that had all the same skills.” For the king’s fox was a trained pet, capable of obeying many commands.
Our excerpt picks up the story from there. What the ellipsis omits is that, on her way, a fox jumped into her chariot “and sat peacefully beside her, nestling out of sight beneath her cloak.”
Brigit’s intervention with the king was denied, unless the man could produce another fox with all the skills his pet had acquired. Whereupon, Brigit brought forth the fox that had jumped into her chariot, and it did all the same tricks the previous fox had learned. “Seeing this, the king was now satisfied as were his nobles, and with the crowd applauding with admiration for the marvel that had been done, he ordered the man who had previously been under sentence of death to be unbound and set free.” The fox would later escape and return to his woodland hideout.
A kernel of truth
OK, there’s a good bit of embellishment going on here. Maybe Brigit caught a fox to give to the king. Or maybe some friend, knowing the situation, gave up his own pet fox (foxes don’t usually make good pets, by the way). Or maybe who knows what.
But there is a kernel of history here. Brigit was deeply moved by what seemed to her an act of injustice. She would go to great lengths, even to humbling herself before the local king to prevent the execution of this man and the destruction of his family. In that she was like Jesus, Who humbled Himself and came to set the captives free. Brigit may even have paid some recompense to the king for him to let the man go. We don’t know. But the idea that Brigit was one who worked and prayed for justice to be realized on behalf of those who could not help themselves rings true to me.
Her appeal to the king was preceded by pleadings with God as she poured out prayers to him that justice might prevail.
And somehow it did, even to sly Reynard’s slipping the grip of the king and managing to elude all the men and hounds that sought to bring him back to the palace. You can almost see the twinkle in Cogitosus’ eye and here the laughter and applause of those to whom he first read this tale.
And while they would have found the story great entertainment, the point about justice would not have eluded them.
For Reflection
1. How well do you understand the Biblical teaching about justice?
2. Have you ever had a situation where you had to set things right?
Psalm 41.1-3
(Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
The LORD delights to care for the troubled and the poor.
He them from trial delivers and shelters by His Word.
Thus blessed in all the land they from enemies are safe,
sustained by Jesus’ hand and preserved by saving grace.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: In our ReVision series on “The Kingdom Economy” we continue looking at the nature of justice as God defines it. In our Read Moore podcast we continue in our series of readings from three booklets on life in the Kingdom. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
