Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 28, 2010 - St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P. - Priest and Doctor of the Church
[1 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29 and Mark 4:21-25]For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. [Mark] "The new law of Christ is nothing other than the Holy Spirit working in our heart through faith in Christ." Summa Theologiae I-II, Q. 106
Today is a big day for us Dominicans. The feast of St. Thomas Aquinas is a reminder to us of a tremendous gift to Christian theology and yet a brother of ours who lived Dominican life to the fullest. Although there is a rather facile distinction often made between "head" and "heart" in spiritual direction nowadays, Thomas Aquinas shows how that distinction disappears in a truly engaged Dominican. We vow ourselves to a life of study (not necessarily each of us to a life of scholarship) along with prayer, community life and ministry. Thomas is most likely known for his scholarship, and through his composition of hymns of the Eucharist, as a man of prayer. But he spent his life in community with Dominicans in Italy, France and Germany and responded to the needs of the Order in each of those places. In Germany he studied with St. Albert the Great, and then taught and wrote in Paris and Orvieto and Naples. Most folks have no idea of the amazing production of writings! It was said that he could dictate to three different secretaries three different works at one time! His handwriting, however, left much to be desired. It was called illegible in his own time! His ministry of writing is his lasting contribution to us, thanks to trained translators! In addition to this, he was severely criticized in his own time and after his death for using the philosophical language of Aristotle as a means of interpreting revelation. Within three years of his death, the Archbishop of Paris, Stephen Tempier, ordered some of his works proscribed and burned! Yet, toward the end of his life, he had an experience that left him feeling that everything he had written was "mere straw" compared with the knowledge of Christ that he had personally received. Please join with me today in celebrating the life and ministry of this amazing Dominican friar who stands like a giant (in more ways than one - he was very large) in Christian theology. St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us! AMEN
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