by Rev. Paul Raftery, O.P.
Head Chaplain
Thomas Aquinas College
Homily from St. Thomas Day 2017
Streaming / downloadable audio

There is a great ignorance these days of Christ’s doctrine, and Our Lord, as we hear in this Gospel passage, has handed over to us the crucial work of making this doctrine known. We are the ones He is depending on to pass on His divine teaching. You are the light of the world, and the salt of the earth.

But we cannot give what we do not have. So if we are to give Christ’s teaching to others, we must first make sure that we have dedicated ourselves to it in study, absorbing that teaching and making it our own.

And so a life of study becomes necessary in one way or another for any follower of Christ. We don’t all have to become theologians, but a Christian who does not give himself over to the study of the Faith, in accord with his own vocation and state in life, will never fully become that radiant light Christ demands in the Gospel.

And today we remember this great Christian calling to study, so wonderfully exemplified in St. Thomas. He was born in 1225; entered the Dominican Order at about age 20; and from then until his death at age 49 he was continually studying, writing, and teaching about the Faith, wanting nothing more than to put himself entirely at the service of Christ.

We must note well that his burning desire, in all his intellectual labors, was not just his own perfection as a scholar, but above all to make Christ known. As Thomas says regarding the contemplative life: “For even as it is better to enlighten than merely to shine, so is it better to give to others the fruits of one’s contemplation than merely to contemplate” (II-II, 188, 6). A life of knowing the mysteries of our faith only reaches perfection in giving that knowledge to others.

This is a point we can see God Himself making in Deuteronomy. He said to the Hebrews through Moses: “May these words which I command you this day be in your heart. ... Meditate on them, sitting in your house and walking on your journey, and when going to sleep, and when rising” (Deut. 6.7).

An amazing command for any body of knowledge. For what other learning would God have given this solemn command? Egypt, Babylonia, and China had their sciences at the time. And as the centuries went by, great men of genius arose whom we study in this program. But for none of these would such a command be given.

As if God might say: “May these words of Euclid be in your heart … Meditate on them, sitting in your dorm room and walking to the Punch Bowls, and when going to sleep, and when rising.” Which, admittedly, is not the best example, because many Freshmen do this anyway.

But the point is no matter how wonderful Euclid may be, it is not the kind of knowledge God would give a solemn command to dedicate our lives to. Nor even that of Aristotle, though many a philosopher has done so. The sacred knowledge that comes from Him is something different.

But then God goes onto command: “and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

So then another amazing command about the spreading of this knowledge to others. Not only is the man of God to base his life on constantly pondering the Divine Wisdom, but to also finding any opportunity he can to bring that knowledge to others. A constancy in pondering, and constancy in promoting. This is what the Divine Wisdom demands of us.

So St. Thomas was one who lived very much in the spirit of this passage from Deuteronomy. He was constantly pondering the Divine Word and teaching it at every opportunity.

And today we have a special occasion of remembering the founders of our College. Blessing a plaque and the plaza next to it in their memory, which we will do after Mass. And a great consolation it should be for them that they have established a college that does just this, a program of steady contemplation of Divine Wisdom, and teaching it literally day and night, given all the classes and seminars and special lectures devoted to the study of the Scriptures and sacred theology.

In so many ways this program not only culminates in the study of St. Thomas, but also is marked by the spirit of St. Thomas, making the contemplation of divine truth, and the proclamation of sacred doctrine — a steady, day-by-day, month-by-month, year-by-year pursuit.

But still there is the question, why the command in Deuteronomy to ponder continually and proclaim unceasingly, and why did St. Thomas do this in his life so energetically, and why is this College imbued with his spirit? And the answer comes in the second reading we just heard: “I pleaded and the spirit of Wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her.” This knowledge that we ponder is not just ideas, but a Person. The Wisdom of God. Here referred to with the feminine pronoun, but known to us as the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And this sacred body of knowledge we pursue is not just for the mind, but for everything we are and meant to be. A knowledge that is the beginning of eternity for us. Eternal life is this: to know You, the One true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent. So no wonder in his life St. Thomas pushed himself to the limit in teaching and writing, and no wonder God commands us to constantly ponder and teach His words. Little do we realize the great power in these divine words that can carry us into eternity, and are the beginning of union with Him who is Life, Beauty, and Truth itself.

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