Sunday, January 31, 2016

St. Thomas

I have a great affinity for St. Thomas Aquinas.  There are some blogs and Catholics out there who deride Thomistic thought as being "legalistic" or something stupid like that but this is farther from the truth.  When I look at the crisis we have in the Church, I see that it has occurred because of two things.

1.) The destruction of the Old Rite.
2.) The demotion of St. Thomas.

Attending youth groups and other Catholic gatherings, I have attempted to bring these two great passions of mine into conversations because they represent the Catholic ethos in all of its glory.  In the Old Rite we find all that our heart desires and could ever want in life.  In St. Thomas, we find stability utilizing the tools of faith and reason.

To leave you with words from a sermon of St. Thomas,

"Alius fructus ovium Christi (est) in locutione, quia boni loquuntur bonum, et de bono. Unde apostolus ad Heb.: per ipsum offeramus hostiam, fructum labiorum confitentium nomini ejus. Si aliquis dicat aliquid quod dissonat ejus operibus, non habet vestes similes fructui. Unde in Prov. 18, 20: de fructu oris viri replebitur venter ejus. Difficile est quod cor plenum invidia non eructet quandoque aliquid ex illo, quia ex abundantia cordis os loquitur. Unde Gregorius: pravi dum recta praedicant, valde difficile est ut quandoque et ea quae tacite ambiunt non eructent."   
 
 "Another fruit of Christ's sheep is in their speech, since good men always say something good and speak about good; thus the Apostle to the Hebrews says: By him let us offer the sacrifice, the fruit of lips corresponding to his name. If anyone says something that is incongruent with his actions, then his clothes do not correspond to his fruit, thus we read in Proverbs: Of the fruit of a man's mouth will his belly be satisfied. It is difficult for a heart filled with jealousy not to let anything slip out from it at any moment, since out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Therefore Gregory says: "While depraved people do speak openly about suitable topics, it is only with the greatest difficulty that they do not let roving secrets spew forth."


31 January 2015
Sexagesima Sunday
 

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