Word to the Wise
Monday, January 28, 2008 - St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P., Dominican friar, scholar and doctor of the Church
[2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10 and Mark 3:22-30]The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, "He is possessed by Beelzebub," and "By the prince of demons he drives out demons." Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, "How can Satan drive out Satan? If kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him."
I could not help but take the gospel ordinarily given in the Roman calendar for today, despite some that our Dominican calendar would permit. The reason is the argument that Jesus uses to refute the scribes. I could see it couched in the scholastic form that St. Thomas Aquinas used in his teaching and especially in his great Summa Theologica. (It seems that Jesus drove out demons by the prince of demons, Beelzebub. But I respond saying, "How can Satan drive out Satan, etc.") This is one day when Dominicans everywhere can stand proud of one of their brothers. The impact of St. Thomas Aquinas on Roman Catholic theology is incalculable. The list of his theological works, produced in an academic career that lasted about 30 years, is prodigious. Certainly the Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica stand out, but there are scriptural commentaries, debates (Questiones Disputatae), responses to questions sent to him by prominent political figures and sermons. He also wrote the hymns we Catholics know so well: Tantum ergo and O Salutaris Hostia. for the "office" of the feast of Corpus Christi. In addition to all these written works, he had official academic duties within the Dominican Order and had to take his turn preaching in the Dominican churches attached to his assignments. St. Thomas' Summa Theologica was paraphrased in a form for the average layperson many years ago by a brilliant Dominican scholar, Walter Farell, O.P., in a little book called MY WAY OF LIFE. I have a copy and I know the book is still in print. In the Summa Theologica, itself, there is one "question" that I come back to time and time again, where St. Thomas asks about the nature of the "new law of Christ." (ST I-II, Q. 106) He says it is nothing other than the Holy Spirit working in our heart through faith. In other words, the new law of Christ is not some external list of "do's and don'ts" but a relationship that enables us to reach the ultimate goal of eternal life with the Holy Trinity. Of course, the scribes in Jesus' day could not understand that the demons were being replaced with that "new law." By virtue of our baptism, we receive that new law of Christ and are challenged to live according to it. I pray that on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas we may all be grateful not only to him for his great work but to all who serve in the field of theological education and Catholic education in general (He is the patron of Catholic schools.). AMEN
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