28 Jan – Memorial for St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was the son of the Count of Aquino. He was born in the family castle in Lombardy near Naples, Italy. He was educated by Benedictine monks at Monte Cassino, and at the University of Naples. He secretly joined the mendicant Dominican friars in 1244. His family kidnapped and imprisoned him for a year to keep him out of sight and deprogramme him, but they failed to sway him, and he rejoined his order in 1245.
He studied in Paris, France, from 1245 to 1248 under St. Albert the Great, then accompanied Albertus to Cologne, Germany. He was ordained in 1250, then returned to Paris to teach. He taught theology at the University of Paris. He wrote defenses of the mendicant orders, commentaries on Aristotle and Lombard’s Sentences, and some bible-related works, usually by dictating to secretaries. He won his doctorate and taught at several Italian cities. He was recalled by the king and the University of Paris in 1269, then recalled to Naples in 1272 where he was appointed regent of studies while working on the Summa Theologica.
On 6 December 1273, he experienced a divine revelation which so enraptured him that he abandoned the Summa, saying that it and his other writing were so much straw in the wind compared to the reality of the divine glory. He died four months later, while en route to the Council of Lyons, overweight and with his health broken by overwork.
His works have been seminal to the thinking of the Church ever since. They systematized her great thoughts and teaching, and combined Greek wisdom and scholarship methods with the truth of Christianity. Pope Leo VIII commanded that his teachings be studied by all theology students. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1567.
- Patron Saint Index
2 Sam 7:4-17
Mk 4:1-20
“And there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”
As I was reflecting on the scriptures for today, the link between the first reading and the Gospel did not seem to be very apparent at all. The first reading describes how God is responding to David’s request to build him a House. And the Gospel reminds us that our hearts must be prepared to receive the Word of God, in order for the Word to take root, grow and bear fruit.
As I spent more time reflecting, the word, ‘foundation’ came to mind. Then it dawned on me that The Lord is telling me the following:
God will always have our interests at heart, to take care of all our needs so that our hearts will be at peace and we can fully focus on Him, and receive Him, for Him to dwell in us. Because most of us, with our cares, worries and distractions, cannot make a home for God by ourselves. Thus, by providing all that we need, as He had done for the Israelites, we would then be able to start building a foundation and prepare our hearts to receive Him so that He can dwell with us.
So, that is why God said to Nathan that He has been with the Israelites all the way from Egypt to their wandering in the desert, from overcoming their enemies to giving them a land. While in the land that He gave them, he agreed to give them judges and kings. And, more importantly, that He would establish for David and His house, a kingdom forever. And that eventually, is Jesus, the Word.
God blesses us, even though sometimes we may not see it or feel it. We lament ever so often that God is not helping us, that we continue to suffer even though we ask God to take the pain away. Again, without a firm foundation, we can never see past the pain, and we cannot see that amidst the trials that we may be going through, God IS always there to guide us through whatever pains we may be enduring.
A sound foundation is the key to everything. Even the Gospel tells us so in the parable of the two builders where a sound foundation is key to obeying the Word of God (Mt 7:24). Jesus also identified Peter as the “Rock on which I will build my church”. Even in sports, such as in golf, where we are always told that the first thing we do is to ‘centre our stance’ and ‘get stable’.
So, how can we start building this foundation and prepare our hearts to receive Him more fully? Firstly, I think we need to trust in the Lord. To fully accept the fact and to acknowledge that He will be there for us all the time. Next, is to have a childlike faith in God, to acknowledge that He will take care of us and that He will always equip us to face our challenges when they come. And thirdly, to spend time in prayer. Spending time with the Lord is much like exercising to get a stronger physical body. The more time we do this, the easier it gets and the better we will reap the benefits of spending time with the Lord.
Of course, not every prayer time will be exactly as how we envision it to be. I also think that our prayer time also follows the state of the earth in the Gospel. There will be times when we start praying and then something crops up and so, we stop. There will be times when we start to pray and then distractions occur, and so we struggle and then give up. And there will be times when we are able to enter prayer easily and receive consolation from the Lord. When those occasions happen, I thank the Lord for His grace to be able to spend that time to commune with him. For me, those occasions don’t happen very often; but when they do, they energise me and inspire me to want to be a better child of God.
I pray, brothers and sisters, that as we continue on our faith journey, our foundations will be strong, and the that our hearts will all have the good soil, so that the Word of God can grow within us and that we may be better instruments to do God’s will.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Calvin Wee)
Prayer: Heavenly Father, You are our Lord and God. Thank you for always taking care of us and giving us what we need. Grant us the grace of an open heart that we may always be receptive to your Word. Amen.
Thanksgiving: Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of faith. Thank you for the trials that come our way and thank you for the strength that you will give us to overcome those trials when they do come. Amen.
OXYGEN 
Leave a comment