St. Thomas Aquinas: History and Significance PDF

ST. THOMAS STAR Catholic’s Namesake  ST. THOMAS AQUINAS * 1225 - 1274 * LOCATION Italy EMBLEM sunburst, star, ox, books, lily PATRON of students, booksellers, academics, theologians,...

ST. THOMAS STAR Catholic’s Namesake  ST. THOMAS AQUINAS * 1225 - 1274 * LOCATION Italy EMBLEM sunburst, star, ox, books, lily PATRON of students, booksellers, academics, theologians, universities FEAST DAY January 28  STAR CATHOLIC Did you know the namesake of our school board is St. Thomas Aquinas? Based off of the information on the last slide is this a good fit? What do you notice about our logo that relates to St. Thomas Aquinas? As a boy in school, Thomas was so quiet that the other students snickered at him and called him stupid. And he was so big that other students joked that he looked like an ox. “You can call him the dumb ox,” one of his professors, Albertus Magnus, told them. “But his teaching will one day produce such bellowing that it will be heard throughout the world.” For the rest of his life, Thomas taught in a university and wrote book after book. He wrote about how people should treat each other, how wars should be fought, and how the government should work. He wrote about the secrets hidden in people’s hearts, why we do good, and why we do wrong. He wrote books about other books. And he didn’t just write for other scholars. “A teacher of truth,” he said, “shouldn’t just teach the educated, but beginners.” The biggest book Thomas ever wrote was about God. It was called Summa Theologica, and he planned for it to contain everything anyone could possibly want to know about God, all the way from the creation of the world to the end of it. It was such a deep book, with so many important ideas, that it affected the thinking of people all over the world - even people who did not One of Thomas’s most important ideas was about happiness. He believed that everyone wants to be happy. But nobody is sure where to find happiness. In his book, Thomas wrote about all of the things that make us happy, from the love of our family and friends, to eating delicious food, to owning all kinds of things. But nothing on earth could make us happy forever, Thomas said, because nothing on earth lasts forever. Things break and change. We wear them out or use them up. So the best happiness, Thomas said, can only come from God, who never stops loving us, and who never changes or wears out, no matter what happens in the world around us. But before Thomas finished his book, something strange happened. Another monk saw him in the chapel, floating in the air before the image of Jesus on the cross, with tears running down In his vision, Thomas saw Jesus. “You have written good things about me, Thomas,” Jesus told him. “What reward would you like?” “Nothing but you,” Thomas told him. After Thomas’s vision, even though he was one of the greatest writers the world had even seen, he stopped writing. “Please,” people begged him, “keep writing your books.” “I can’t,” Thomas told them. “Everything I’ve ever written seems like straw to me, compared to what it’s like to see God.”  PRAYER Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, the true source of light and fountain of wisdom. Pour forth your brilliance upon my intellect, dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin and of ignorance. Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, a retentive memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself. Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to successful completion. This I ask through Jesus Christ, true God and true man, living and reigning with You and the Father, forever and ever. Amen. GOOGLE Presented by Fauget Group