"The Eucharist is the sacrament of love:
it signifies love, it produces love." - St Thomas Aquinas
"St Thomas Aquinas' greatest love was the Blessed Sacrament, of which he was to be the world's greatest witness. He would spend hours at a time, day and night, before the altar in adoration and meditation. Here was his great school. The Eucharistic Lord Himself was his Master. When he celebrated Mass, he was in raptures and often in tears. After saying his own Mass he would serve another - or at least hear one.
In December 1273, when he was forty-seven, he laid down his pen, determined to study and write no more, so that he might give himself to God entirely in meditation and prayer. He was ordered by Pope Gregory X to go to Lyons to assist at the General Council. Taken ill on the way, he was obliged to stop at the Cistercial Abbey of Fossa-Nouva. His first visit was to the Blessed Sacrament. At Fossa-Nouva he lay seriously ill for a month. He made his general confession.
While Viaticum was being brought to him, he had himself taken from the bed and laid upon ashes on the floor. The tears came to his eyes as he beheld the Host in the hand of the priest. He made his profession of faith:
"I firmly believe that Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is present in this august Sacrament. I adore You, my God and my Redemption, the Viaticum of my pilgrimage, for whose honor I have studied, labored, preached and taught."
"I firmly believe that Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is present in this august Sacrament. I adore You, my God and my Redemption, the Viaticum of my pilgrimage, for whose honor I have studied, labored, preached and taught."
From: Witnesses to the Eucharist, Fr Hugh F Blunt, LLD
St Thomas Aquinas
Italy ~ 1225-1274
Dominican monk
Theologian, philosopher, professor
Prolific writer, Hymn composer
Doctor of the Church
FEAST DAY - January 28
(Happy confirmation namesake day, Fr Howe!)
"The Sacrament of the Body of the Lord
puts the demons to flight,
defends us against the incentives to vice and to concupiscence,
cleanses the soul from sin,
quiets the anger of God,
enlightens the understanding to know God,
inflames the will and the affections with the love of God,
fills the memory with spiritual sweetness,
confirms the entire man in good,
frees us from eternal death,
multiplies the merits of a good life,
leads us to our everlasting home,
and re-animates the body to eternal life." - St Thomas Aquinas
"Beware the man of one book." - St Thomas Aquinas
St Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!
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