Ecstasies of Love

Homily for the Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas is widely regarded as one of the great intellects of the Western World. He is numbered among the ten most influential philosophers in history. Yet he also gained a sanctity that is unlike any other.

It is traditionally held that on one occasion, in 1273 at the Dominican convent of Naples in the chapel of Saint Nicholas, after Matins, Thomas lingered and was seen by the sacristan to be levitating in prayer with tears before an icon of the crucified Christ. Christ said to Thomas, "You have written well of me, Thomas. What reward would you have for your labor?" Thomas responded, "Nothing but you, Lord."

On 6 December 1273, another mystical experience took place. While he was celebrating Mass, he experienced an unusually long ecstasy. Because of what he saw, he abandoned his routine and refused to dictate to his secretary, Reginald of Piperno. When Reginald begged him to get back to work, Thomas replied: "Reginald, I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me." As a result, the Summa Theologica, a theological work that is still taught in seminaries today, would remain uncompleted.

We are told that in the life of St. Francis of Assisi, two things constantly occupied his mind; namely, the humility of the nativity and the charity of the passion. It is the latter that seems to have been St. Thomas’ constant thought. His vision of the crucified Jesus evoked such strong feeling that he wept as he thought of the depths of love which had motivated his prayer and his writing.

Thomas was also a poet. The poem with which we are probably most familiar is the hymn we sing at Benediction, the Tantum Ergo, the final two verses of the Pange Lingua.

The parables of today’s Gospel passage ask us to contemplate the mystery of the Reign of God. St. Thomas spent his entire life in contemplation of those mysteries which we find in the parables of Jesus and in the faith we have all received in Baptism. As we praise God today for the gift of St. Thomas, we too contemplate the ineffable love of God for us that is found in the Eucharist we celebrate today and every day.