Friday of the Third Week of the Year (I)
28 January 2011
St. Thomas Aquinas
Seminary Deacon Homily
Today, we celebrate the memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas – doctor of the Church. He is a doctor – a teacher. What do we learn from him? Sure, here in the seminary there are many things we learn through his writings. Our study of his works could occupy our entire lives, as it has for many people. Whole schools of thought have been born from the inspiration of this man’s writings.
However, lest we be caught up in studying the thought and work of this teacher of faith and reason, let us remember what is first. Today, let us not remember Aquinas the academic – but let us remember Thomas the Saint! What does this doctor-saint teach us?
I think Thomas took seriously the words which we heard in the letter to the Hebrews: “My just one shall live by faith, and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him.” Thomas’s heart and mind from the beginning of his life were set on one thing – Jesus Christ. He followed Christ’s call to the Dominicans, new and uncouth, revolting to his noble family. He endured imprisonment as he left to join the novitiate. He was insulted by his classmates, being called unlearned by those who were not as learned as he. Yet, today we celebrate this Dumb Ox, whose bellow of sound doctrine has resounded throughout the whole world.
What gave Thomas the strength to endure these hardships in following his vocation? What gave him the strength of will to not succumb to the temptations of the world, which had offered him secular power, an alternate vocation as a noble Benedictine Abbott, even an Archbishopric? Thomas, in all his study and prayer, always had his heart and mind securely focused on one thing – Jesus Christ. It was said that the Lord appeared to him and asked him “What will you have from me?” to which he replied “Nothing other than you.” Truly, he was not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and possess life.
How can we learn to be true Thomists? How can we follow the example of the Saint whom we honor? Perhaps, instead of following his teaching in books, we can learn from his teachers. Instead of sitting in classes about him, we can sit with him in his classroom. For Thomas, his greatest teacher was not Aristotle, nor was he Augustine. His greatest classroom was not that of Saint Albert the Great, nor was his greatest table the one at which he composed the Summa Theologiae. Rather, his greatest teacher was Jesus Christ; his greatest classroom the chapel; his greatest table the one at which we gather this morning.
For Thomas, theology was not merely an academic discipline at which he worked for its own sake. Rather, his work was always ordered to his prayer and his priestly and religious ministry – to bring people closer to Christ. He was no disinterested academic, for no one as cold as Thomas is sometimes portrayed could write hymns of such beauty as the Adoro te Devote or the Pange Lingua, which were included in the Mass of Corpus Christi – a Mass composed by him, but undoubtedly focused on the Lord. It is from this desire, this fire, this knowledge, that all of Thomas’s work and studies flowed.
My dear brothers and sisters, if there is one thing we should learn from Saint Thomas, it is that the just man shall live by faith. Nothing is more important than keeping our focus on Christ – not just as an abstract academic discipline, but as a real living relationship which we enter into and are part of every time we go to Mass; every time we pray before the Blessed Sacrament.
At the end of his life, Thomas had a vision during Mass, and afterwards set aside his pen for the final time, and said “I can do no more. Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now appears to be as so much straw.” Indeed, all our works, as good as they might be, are as nothing compared with the mystery of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
New Blog!
Hello folks, friends, and fellow pilgrims in this world!
At the suggestion of several of my friends, I've decided to restart my blogging career. More accurately, I've decided to start a new path in blogging, for my former blog was intended as a way to meditate and share the graces which came to me and my brothers last year on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
On the other hand, this blog intends to work in the other direction. Rather than being in a strange land experiencing things from the outside altogether different and encountering Jesus in his own context, this blog will follow what is primarily an internal journey, where what is familiar to me has become strange again thanks to the grace of Holy Orders. Instead of going to meet Christ in his historical context, I'll explore how he is meeting me in my own.
To this end, I intend to post homilies I've given as well as the occasional musings on my own spiritual and pastoral life, and occasional commentary on what is going on in the world.
I do not know what the final product will be or where God will take this endeavor. Perhaps it will be for my own reflection and edification. Perhaps someone will be able to grow from my own self-gift to God's Church in this way.
Two notes about the blog
What shall I return to the Lord for all he has given me? Indeed, I have received much grace, and as my time in the seminary comes to a close, I've been reflecting more and more on the strange mystery these last 8 years and more have been. All is gift, even that which I didn't understand at the time. To see how much I've grown and changed, and how God has answered my prayers - it's all very humbling and amazing. Ultimately, there is only one thing I can return to him. "I shall take into my hand the saving chalice, and invoke the name of the Lord."
At the suggestion of several of my friends, I've decided to restart my blogging career. More accurately, I've decided to start a new path in blogging, for my former blog was intended as a way to meditate and share the graces which came to me and my brothers last year on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
On the other hand, this blog intends to work in the other direction. Rather than being in a strange land experiencing things from the outside altogether different and encountering Jesus in his own context, this blog will follow what is primarily an internal journey, where what is familiar to me has become strange again thanks to the grace of Holy Orders. Instead of going to meet Christ in his historical context, I'll explore how he is meeting me in my own.
To this end, I intend to post homilies I've given as well as the occasional musings on my own spiritual and pastoral life, and occasional commentary on what is going on in the world.
I do not know what the final product will be or where God will take this endeavor. Perhaps it will be for my own reflection and edification. Perhaps someone will be able to grow from my own self-gift to God's Church in this way.
Two notes about the blog
1) I chose to jump the gun slightly and use the URL beginning fatherguthrie, not because of pride, but because at this point, it's pretty much certain that I will be ordained on June 3rd. It's easier to stick with one address.
2) I try to title things well, which is difficult given that I don't know what the ultimate purpose of this blog will be. At least for now, I've titled it "Quid retribuam Domino?", meaning "What shall I return to the Lord?", borrowed from Psalm 116.
What shall I return to the Lord for all he has given me? Indeed, I have received much grace, and as my time in the seminary comes to a close, I've been reflecting more and more on the strange mystery these last 8 years and more have been. All is gift, even that which I didn't understand at the time. To see how much I've grown and changed, and how God has answered my prayers - it's all very humbling and amazing. Ultimately, there is only one thing I can return to him. "I shall take into my hand the saving chalice, and invoke the name of the Lord."
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