Reflection Monday Week 3 (Year C) Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo
Readings: Heb 9:15, 24-28; Ps 98:1,
2-3ad—6; and Mark 3:22-30
Efficacy of Christ’s Sacrifice, Aquinas and Sanctify of Life
Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, one
of the greatest philosophers, preachers, writers, theologians, of all times;
Doctor of the Church and patron of catholic universities, colleges and schools,
including Sacred Heart School of Theology, here in Milwaukee. He earned the title, “Angelic
doctor.”
I am not a Dominican priest. But I lived and studied with
the Dominicans in Rome
for years. In addition to all the readings I have done on Thomas Aquinas, I had
the privilege of breathing, learning and hearing first hand stories told about
St. Thomas Aquinas by his Dominican brothers in Rome. Born
in Rocca Secca in Naples
in the year 1224 and died in Fossa Nuova in March 1274. Very short life! Thomas
lived less than 50 years but composed more than sixty works, including his
famous “Summa Theologica.” His style of writings reflects his thinking
and spirituality. Like the Author or preacher of the Epistle to the Hebrews,
which we have reflected upon this week and taught as a Course in our school
this Semester, Thomas Aquinas was eclectic, Platonic, Aristotelian, Socratic,
inductive, deductive, analytic and synthetic in his theological methods and
styles.
He would always chose the best he could find in those who
preceded him, carefully sifting the chaff from the wheat, approving what was
true and rejecting the false and shadow. His emphasis was on reason and faith,
above all the holiness of life, and which road will take us- professor, seminarians, staff--- to God. Peace, forgiveness, prayer, hard work, righteousness- the road that Melchizedek took!
There is a story told of Aquinas “as a young student in the
class room he kept asking his professor- Who
is God? Please, professor explain to
me what is God? Eventually, Thomas came to the conclusion that knowing God
required more than teachers and books could provide. Knowing God is more than
anything else a spiritual endeavor. The prayerful soul has to seek the truth
with a clean and humble heart." We find this in the entire life and career of
St. Thomas Aquinas.
While studying the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the
efficacy of Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross which the Epistle to the Hebrews
addresses, Thomas would spend many hours in prayer before the Tabernacle, the
imprint of the Heavenly Sanctuary. Thomas like the writer of the Epistle to the
Hebrews understood that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, which we reenact
daily here at Mass is greater and more effective than the sacrifice of the old
law.
The sacrifice of Christ was spontaneous, while animal
sacrifices of the old law was the product of law. The sacrifice of Christ was a
product of love, no mechanism of law but a choice of love beyond human
reasoning, even beyond the reasoning of his own relative. The sacrifice of the
old covenant cleansed only our bodies from ceremonial uncleanness. While the
sacrifice and blood of Christ, cleansed our souls, washes our sins, pleads our
cause, and reunites us with God. It mediates and inaugurates for us that new
covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31. Goodness, purity, love are now written
in our hearts. It’s moral! It touches consciences and enables us to worship the
living true God, with undivided minds and souls. It finally brings us eternal
redemption and makes us holy, a chosen race a people set apart.
Thomas Aquinas understood this. He lived, studied and
taught the efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross with an example of
holiness of life, charity, humility and rectitude of intention in his professional
works and studies. May our goals here at Sacred Heart School of Theology continue to be tailored after the examples of Christ, and Saint Thomas Aquinas!
