John and family: Thomas Aquinas

Friday, January 21, 2011

Thomas Aquinas

St Thomas Aquinas (1225 to 1274)

Aquinas went to the University of Naples where he came into contact with the Order of Preachers or Dominicans. (He became a Dominican). Aquinas went on to study in Cologne with Albert the Great -- it was this association that introduced to Aristotelian philosophy. . He sought to employ rational argumentation in defense of Christian theology. He espoused the metaphysical teachings of Aristotle. Religious reasoning. Thomas Aquinas asserted that theology was a science in which careful application of reason would yield observable proof of theoretical knowledge.

Among his writings are works easily recognizable as philosophy. He also wrote several commentaries on Aristotle. Thomas Aquinas sought to make a distinction between philosophy and theology:

“. . .the believer and the philosopher consider creatures differently. The philosopher considers what belongs to their proper natures, while the believer considers only what is true of creatures insofar as they are related to God, for example, that they are created by God and are subject to Him, and the like” (Summa contra gentiles, bk II, chap. 4).

“. . .it should be noted that the different ways of knowing (ratio cognoscibilis) give us different sciences. The astronomer and the natural philosopher both conclude that the world is round, but the astronomer does this through a mathematical middle that is abstracted from matter, whereas the natural philosopher considers a middle lodged in matter. Thus there is nothing to prevent another science from treating in the light of divine revelation what the philosophical disciplines treat as knowable in the light of human reason” (Summa theologiae, Ia, q. 1, a., ad 2).

Thomas Aquinas devoted much attention to the operation of nature believing that through nature God can be known analogically through the created world.

Thomas Aquinas – Existence of God
Thomas Aquinas applied this philosophical discourse to his Five Ways to Prove the Existence of God: 1) Motion; 2) Causation; 3) Contingency; 4) Goodness; 5) Design.

The first way was clearly indicative of his reasoning:

There is something moving
Everything that moves is put into motion by something else.
But this series of antecedent movers cannot reach back infinitely.
Therefore, there must be a first mover (which is God.)

St Philip patron saint of joy and humour

St Philip patron saint of joy and humour was known to be spontaneous and unpredictable, charming and humorous.
Philip understood that it wasn't enough to tell young people not to do something -- you had to give them something to do in its place. So at Carnival time, when the worst excesses were encouraged, Philip organized a pilgrimage to the Seven Churches with a picnic accompanied by instrumental music for the mid-day break. After walking twelve miles in one day everyone was too tired to be tempted!
Not everyone was happy about this growing group and Philip and Buonsignore were attacked by the priests they lived with. But eventually Philip and his companions were vindicated and went on with their work.
Philip did not escape this spiritual mortification himself. As with others, his own humbling held humor. There are stories of him wearing ridiculous clothes or walking around with half his beard shaved off. The greater his reputation for holiness the sillier he wanted to seem. When some people came from Poland to see the great saint, they found him listening to another priest read to him from joke books.

Prayer:
Saint Philip Neri, we take ourselves far too seriously most of the time. Help us to add humor to our perspective -- remembering always that humor is a gift from God. Amen

St. Dominic Savio

Dominic is the patron saint of choir boys and of the falsely accused.

This latter title was given to him due to the following incident. One time, two boys filled the school stove with snow and garbage during the cold winter months. When the teacher came back into the room, they falsely accused Dominic of doing the “dirty” deed. Although disciplined in front of the entire class, Dominic refused to tell on the two mischievous boys. When the truth was later revealed, Dominic was asked why he didn’t confess to his innocence. He remarked that he was imitating Our Lord, Who remained silent during His persecutions and crucifixion.

St Dominic pray for us