Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Today's Mass Readings

 

Thomas Aquinas is a Doctor of the Church and is considered one of the greatest Christian theologians who ever put pen to paper. You would not have known that from his early story though. He came from a noble family who wanted him to be an Abbot in a royal monastery. He chose to join a newer order called the order of friar preachers, today called the Dominicans. In school he was called the Dumb Ox by some because he asked too many questions. His inquisitive nature belied the extraordinary genius growing within his young mind. He achieved the greatest theological writing of his time.

Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologiae, his masterwork of theology. It is not something that you read in one sitting. In fact, I have never met someone who read the whole work cover to cover. It is in so many volumes. I doubt that many people have read the Summa all in all, word for word. Still, Aquinas is said to have called all his writing straw to be burnt. He had a vision of God in Heaven with the saints and saw all other discourse as wanting. He walked a path in the end that was a long journey from head to heart. Aquinas wrote in the Summa that all of God’s attributes, his justice, his mercy, and his love, are all one in God. Let us pray through Thomas Aquinas to live in one heart and mind as God is one in his loving mercy.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Patron of Theologians, pray for us. Amen.

Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB