Friday, January 28, 2022

 Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church

(II Samuel 11:1-4a.5-10a.13-17; Mark 4:26-34)

St. Thomas Aquinas was born into a wealthy family.  When he showed a religious sentiment, his parents thought that he should be an abbot.  But Thomas was not inclined to live as a rich man.  He joined the Dominican Order, a relatively new institution in his day.  The Dominicans were gaining an intellectual reputation.  No doubt this appealed to Thomas’ love of learning. But he was also fascinated with the poverty which the Dominican friars professed.

In his Summa Theologica Thomas writes of Jesus’ poverty.  He begins by saying that one would think Christ should have embraced moderation.  If he was going to redeem all humanity, he should live like the average person.  But, according to Thomas, Christ took on extreme poverty.  For this reason Christ could honestly say, “The Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  Thomas explains that Christ strove to be poor because he was a preacher.  A preacher must devote himself (or herself) totally to the Word of God.  That is, the preacher cannot be looking after riches.  Just as important, Thomas says that Christ chose material poverty in order to enrich others spiritually.  He showed the world that God blesses those who give up everything for Him.  This blessing, which in the end is complete happiness, is worth much more than gold.

We might say that Thomas Aquinas “could have had it all.”  But he chose to have very little, really just enough to get by.  In the end, however, Thomas received all that we can hope for – eternal life.  Thomas’ aspiration here should be ours as well.  We should not hanker after riches.  We need material things, but we should seek them to the extent that they avail for us the spiritual gifts of love and peace.

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