SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my sermon is, St. Thomas Aquinas. In this sermon I just
want to give 10 comments about St. Thomas Aquinas - hopefully interesting
ones. So this is what I came up with
from my homework last night in preparing this short 2 page talk.
1) Today - January 28th, we celebrate the feast
of St. Thomas Aquinas. It’s not the anniversary of his death, but the date of
the publication of his Summa. He died March 7th, 1274 - about 49 of
age.
2) He was a quiet Italian boy whose parents planned on him
being a Benedictine - an abbot - probably in Monte Cassino. Nope! He ends up a Dominican - with parents
dead against that idea. He studies in Naples, Paris, Germany
and teaches in Paris and Rome, etc.
3) During his last few days of life he could be seen on a
donkey heading for the Second Council of Lyons. He bangs his head on the branch
of a fallen tree - gets brutally sick and dies a short time later. I like that
scene. It sort of follows the same path as Jesus riding on a donkey into
Jerusalem Palm Sunday - and then dies the following Friday.
4) He wrote 2 massive works - two Summa’s - or Summaries of
what he was thinking and what he was teaching. First the Summa Contra Gentiles [1265-1264] and then the Summa
Theologica (1265-1274).
5) His method was very thorough: state a question as clear
as possible. Then present the opposing
positions - each with the best arguments. Then pick the arguments apart before
you present what you believe to be the truth along with the best possible
arguments.
6) Some say the best book on Aquinas is called, St. Thomas Aquinas - The Dumb Ox by G.K. Chesterton. I’ve read the following: as biography it’s weak; as to research, it’s
also weak. However, because Chesterton
was a huge genius, he captures the essence of Aquinas, Next, for some, the book can be a tough read. Yet, for some
who read it, it becomes the best book on Aquinas and the best book of their
life. It has helped lead various folks into the Catholic Church.
7) Staying with Chesterton, I like the comparison between
him and Aquinas. Supposedly, Aquinas was
a big man. How big, how fat, we don’t know. Chesterton was also a big man. That
we know. G.K. Chesterton wrote, "St.
Thomas was a huge heavy bull of a man, fat and slow and quiet; very mild and
magnanimous but not very sociable; shy, even apart from the humility of
holiness; and abstracted, even apart from his occasional and carefully
concealed experiences of trance or ecstasy.” When Chesterton died, his coffin was
too big to be carried through the door, so he had to be lowered from the window like a piano.
When they were trying to help Aquinas to escape from his own home and get to
the Dominicans, supposedly he too was lowered out of window - but in a basket
and to freedom.
8) Chesterton liked food. As a teacher and theologian, Aquinas
loved to go from the stuff right in front of us - the stuff on the table - the
stuff that we know from our senses. and have them bring us to God. His 5 proofs
of God - go from the known to the unknown. See the earth moving, someone had to
get it started. That Prime Mover is God. See a chair, know there is a chair
maker. I read that the key Latin saying and principle that Thomas Aquinas used
is: "Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuerit prius in sensu." (Nothing
is in the intellect that was not first in the senses). What we see, hear, taste
and touch, cab move from the eyes - from the senses - to the mind - to theology - to God. Speaking
of people, how else would God come to us, but as
a baby, Speaking of food, how else would God feed us, but by bread and wine.
Jesus comes as the answer to human hunger and thirst for God.
9) Expect conflict in life! If we speak up, if we think and then publish our thoughts, if
we innovate, expect criticism. St.
Thomas had some of his stuff condemned and
blackballed. That’s part and parcel of the history of theology in the Catholic
Church. It takes time and study - to come to the truth. This was the history of
many theologians in the Catholic Church. Life: expect problems, struggles and
controversy.
10) Conclusion: In
the long run St. Thomas Aquinas said, “In comparison to God, everything I wrote
seems like straw.” Translation for me: Don’t take oneself so seriously. Be able to laugh at life.
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