Apotheosis of St Thomas Aquinas, by Francisco De Zurbaran
Today is the Feast of St Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church. Doctors of the Church are people whose writing, inspired by the Holy Spirit, builds up the Church, teaches the truths of the Catholic Faith and inspires others to seek the Face of God. The word doctor also suggests their works had some kind of healing or balming effect on the Church. Don't know, the last one's a shot in the dark.
St Thomas is known to have written vast reams of treatises on Catholic Dogma only to on his deathbed have proclaimed, "Burn everything! God is Love!" His devotees then went out and torched the whole town. When they came back, St Thomas said, "No, I meant the books." Alright, I'm joking, but seriously, he is said to have intimated that the sumnation of Christian belief was exactly what St John said it was in his letters and compared to the profundity of that theological fact, his works, he believed, paled into comparison.
Thank God, however, his disciples did not burn his literature. I remember reading some of Summa Theologica years ago and assuming it was a dictated conversation between him and a sceptic. Talking with Fr Ray yesterday, turned out he was literally playing Devil's Advocate and opening up the Faith of the Church to critical analysis and then guided by the Holy Spirit, refuted all the scepticisms. What a clever blighter!
As you can see from the picture above, St Thomas was a giant theologian of the Church and even up in Heaven, St Thomas has leapt up from his place exclaiming, "Aha! I've got it!" while the other Doctor Saints are saying, "He's at it again, look. Oh, do sit down, Thomas, I think we've got it worked out too...Oh, Good Lord...he always has to be right doesn't he!?"
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