St. Thomas Aquinas is a Model for the New Evangelization

By Deacon Keith Fournier
1/29/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what he desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue

St. Thomas knew that all truth finds its source - and its fulfillment - in the One who is Truth Incarnate, Jesus the Christ. In this way, he was a pioneer of a New Evangelization of his own second millennium and a model for our efforts to do the same in the Third.

St. Thomas Aquinas

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CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - During this Year of Faith and in this time when the Catholic Church is calling upon all of the faithful to engage in a New Evangelization, the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas presents us with a model to emulate.

His story should inspire each of us to find - and then to live - our own specific vocation, in the heart of the Church for the sake of the world. We should also expect that such a task will not be easy. Jesus never promised easy. It will take saints. God is in the business of making saints. All he asks of us is our willing ness to say yes to his invitations and then to persevere in our specific vocation.

Thomas Aquinas is an example of that pattern of life.He lived his life in the Lord by living it in the heart of His Church.

Born of a wealthy family and educated with the finest the Benedictines had to offer, Thomas was seemingly set on a "career path' of sorts with a foregone concusion. All, including his family, recognized his extraordinary intellectual gifts.

So, when this young man with so much promise decided to take up with mendicants, the Latin word means beggars, those Dominicans who lived on the resources of gifts given by others, he was not greeted with the support of his family.

In fact, they actually kidnapped their son away from this new band of friars who were so suspect among the established Catholics of their age. After a year of trying to dissuade him, they were no match for the young mans resolve to follow the voice of the Lord and pursue his vocation to the Dominican life.

He studied in Paris and Cologne under St. Albert the Great, a philosopher of great reputation. The entirety of Europe was caught up in a major time of intellectual ferment and change. The writings of the ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle had been reintroduced to contemporary Western thought by,, of all sources, the intellectual community of the Islamic world.

Already suspect in most circles - and accused of being "Anti-Christian" - the re-presentation of Aristotle by the Muslim intellectuals made this body of philosophical work even more of a threat to many within the Catholic Church in Thomas' day.

As he had done in choosing the way of the Dominicans, when so many thought he was to walk a different road, Thomas rejected the contemporary suspicions surrounding the allegedly contradictory nature of Aristotelian thought and orthodox Christianity. Instead he pursued it with all of his natural and supernatural gifts.

He did so because he loved, above all and everyone else, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He loved him so much that he had a deep and intimate relationship with him. Thomas became such a great theologian because he prayed. One of the early monks of the Church, Evagrius of pontus, once wrote, "A theologian is one who prays and one who prays is a theologian."

Thomas knew that all truth finds its source - and its fulfillment - in the One who is Truth Incarnate, Jesus the Christ. In this way, he was a pioneer of a New Evangelization of his own second millennium and a model for our efforts to do the same in the Third. He was not afraid.

Thomas set about re-presenting the fullness of the Truth which is found within the Catholic faith right within the framework of Aristotelian philosophy. In other words, he used a philosophical framework from his own age to present the eternal truths of the ancient but ever new Catholic faith. That is our task as well as we embark upon what is a new missionary age for the Church!

Using his formidable intellect, sincere and profound faith and solid grounding in the Patristic sources, Thomas produced a body of work which is still the theological and philosophical equivalent of the "gold standard" in the West. His 'Summa Theologiae' became the primary theological textbook for seminarians, theologians and ordinands for centuries.

However, Thomas produced more than theology. His poetry and prose inspired some of the greatest liturgical music and piety in the Latin Rite. His holiness has been - and continues to be - the source of countless religious and lay vocations.Holiness is a fruit of an intimate and sustained relationship with the Lord.

What is needed in our own age are men and women who can, as did Thomas, take the thought of this, the Third Millennium, and use it as the framework for the essential task of building an apologetic for the New Evangelization of this age. These men and women, like Thomas, will live their lives in communion with the Lord because they pray.

On this Feast of the Great St. Thomas Aquinas, let us reflect on these words which he wrote:

"Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what he desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue."

"If you ...

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1 - 3 of 3 Comments

Emmanuel Tio
1 month ago
April 3, 2013

"St. Thomas knew that all truth finds its source - and its fulfillment - in the One who is Truth Incarnate, Jesus the Christ. In this way, he was a pioneer of a New Evangelization of his own second millennium and a model for our efforts to do the same in the Third."

I apologize for my intrusion right now but I think there seems to be lacking with St.. Thomas Aquinas' philosophies regarding sainthood and sanctity.

Of course, Our Lord Jesus Christ is apparently invisible and His presence is impossible to be perceived. I think, St. Thomas should have stated the importance of the Sacred Scriptures as the concrete advocates in introducing Our Lord God in the present age.

Talking about Him (God) may not be enough since man may not be enough to talk about everything that God proclaimed and achieved in His whole lifetime - God, The Father, in the Old Testament and God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit, in the New Testament.

I think, the Bible should not be forgotten in terms of the introduction of the meaning of God in the present age since, for sure, listeners or readers will find it impossible to understand the meaning and essence of God without the providence of the Scriptures save miracles and wonders of God, directly from God.

St. Thomas' works are surely great but his humanities limit the limitations of human capacity of grasping the messages of/from God since all the important Word(s) from God may be grasped only in the Bible, and not from anybody alone.

God's "DIRECT" messages came from the Bible and not just from human tongues. And these messages, I think, are the most substantial, the most significant and the happiest experiences humans may have in their entire lives.

If St. Thomas Aquinas is still alive. I think, he will surely put the importance of the Bible in the world of theologies, humanities and philosophies for everything came form the Bible.

No one could disregard the Word of God save God Himself.
Bill Sr.
3 months ago
Deacon Keith
On behalf of all who are blessed by your many articles here on COL and your love of our Lord and his Church we hope many of us will accept your invitation to sainthood.

We can agree that this life of ours is but for a season and how we live and share it with others is of eternal consequence for the body and soul which envelops it. This is why it is so important that as parents we honor our obligation to instill deeply within the hearts and minds of our children those very first two rules of the catechism to know and to love God. Children without a true understanding of their heavenly father and why they were created and given life have little hope to perform the third rule of Christian life, to serve Him. Hopefully we can see to it our little children develop the perspective that life here is like a playground where we sinners can train ourselves to become saints. The games or activities designed for us require only active loving participation and service at all times and a willingness to assist anyone needing help achieving the goals our heavenly Father has for us.
As grown ups we become so entrenched in our often drab day to day existence by the requirements of producing and providing that we forget that we too are children, God's children. We look at our little children playing and think of how worry free they are since we have taken on all their cares for them. We forget that "Our Father" through the Holy Spirit has lovingly provided our Lord Jesus who invites us to place our cares and worries upon him so that we too enjoy freedom to become children of God, His saints. It has been said that a saint is someone who deep within his heart believes God loves him and offers him eternal life through Christ's sacrifice and resurrection and desires to use their life to witness, inform and assure others of the same truth about themselves. It's that simple.
So, who are the saints? They are people like you and me who believe and hope in their Creator and begin their heaven here on earth living Christ's prayerful request by helping build "thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven". We all have an invitation to sainthood and can respond according to our own abilities, gifts, and station in life willingly in the name of Jesus who relieves our burdens and has freed our spirits to be among the saints. Hopefully many of us will be among that great number which no man could count spoken of in Revelations which will eternally be the "communion of saints".
Father God, we pray that we can rejoice fully in the world as children of light and holiness so men can witness and know the truth of your merciful love and accept Jesus as their "personal" savior through and within the eternal "One body of Christ".
Jesus has shown us how to suffer for the sake of our Father and his people. As redeemed Christians we are by choice now a family of suffering souls who can rise above pain, rejection, abuse, or ridicule and not wonder why or seek answers for its presence in our lives. We know because our brother, the crucified, has set the tone of our transformation by and through His glorious cross.
All Christians, through original sin, are justly tied to the cross with Jesus and should welcome a personal measure of suffering that we might share in His resurrection. To deny or avoid that cross or that measure would be to deny Christ. Accept and cherish our Holy Cross for it is truly God's gift of eternal life for us; our shared symbol of love for Truth.
Lord Jesus, though we have chosen to follow in your footsteps to the cross of our salvation, our human weaknesses often tempt us to recoil at the thought or sight of suffering. We pray your infinite mercy will help us to remember always the celestial love of the Father and His willingness to suffer through and with you on the cross for us knowing that we are truly fortunate for any opportunity to share and offer our portion with you that we may one day share eternity with Him.
Paul-Emile Leray
3 months ago
Now, my fuel tank is overflowing for yet another week!
Paul-Emile Leray

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