Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest
(Hebrews qo:1-10; Mark 4:31-35)
Saint Thomas Aquinas was born exactly 800 hundred years ago.
He was a person of genius with few equals in history. He also had a rare
holiness. What made him a treasure for the Church more precious than Google
stock was his way of combining natural talent with supernatural gift. His
intellectual reflection on his religious experience resulted in the most
comprehensive, systematic and profound understanding of God and His ways in
history.
With a voracious appetite for all kinds of knowledge, Thomas
read constantly. It is said that he knew everything there was to know in his
time. He used this vast knowledge in the production of his own writings which
were similarly prodigious. He wrote numerous commentaries on philosophers and
theologians and on themes and issues debated in his time. He wrote prayers,
liturgical works, and numerous sermons. Of course, his most famous and still
widely read book is the Summa Theologica.
His fame as a theologian did not inflate his self-thinking.
He remained throughout his career a humble, obedient, and holy friar. In the
debates between theologians, which were often quite contentious, Thomas always
remained calm. His biographer claims that Thomas never insulted anyone with his
words. He celebrated Mass every day and usually heard a second Mass.
Perhaps most indicative of his fusion of intelligence and
holiness was his habit of preparing for scholarly work with extensive prayer.
Before studying, engaging in intellectual dispute, teaching, writing, or
dictating, Thomas withdrew into silent prayer. With the shedding of many tears
he asked the Lord to grant him insight into the subject.
Pope St. Pius V named Thomas “Doctor of the Church” in the
exclusive company of the four ancient doctors of the West and of the East. He
deserved the honor both for his treatment of theological subjects with subtlety
and depth and for his defense of orthodoxy. Pope Benedict XVI said that Thomas
was known as the “angelic doctor” for both “the sublimity of his thought and
the purity of his life.”
