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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