Choice Trumps Everything

My position on the times we live in is that is that there are far and few people that have solid consistent belief systems that are grounded in a logical, critically engaged, and even intuitive philosophical foundation. More and more people decide to let others do their thinking for them. This goes hand and hand with the new age pop psychology of if it feels go do it and if it doesn't leave it alone. Thinking critically takes hard work and the strain of it is far too often too much for people of our age. What prompted me to write this piece was a post I read myself from Rozann Carter of the Word On Fire Blog titled Country Music and the Casey Decision.  I had recently viewed Kacey Musgraves youtube video of her song  "Follow Your Arrow." Similar to what Rozann had thought I felt that this is yet another case of not thinking about things but just doing what ever feels good. This gets to the core of what I believe is the mantra of our age: CHOICE TRUMPS EVERYTHING. It matters not whether you choose the wrong path what matters is it's your choice. Freedom is narrowly defined as being able to choose. Of course in the age of relativism where nothing is absolutely true, your choice is as good as anybody's. But as Rozan points out " Shaping behavior according to an objective "Good" loses appeal in a world where "you might as well do whatever you want." I'll end here by saying two things: learn to think on your own and remember that your choice doesn't just affect you and there is a correct choice - doing good.

What Matters in Life

The purpose of my writings here in this blog has been to express my thoughts, hopes and dreams about my Catholic faith and doing so in my own words. I have given the utmost effort not to go too deep in a theological vein. It should come off as an adult man in his early 60's speaking about life, faith and spirituality as he sees it. I have a pretty long history of studying God and the mystical aspects of religion, the Church and her liturgy, people and their behavior, and the most important philosophical question: why the hell are we here? I live a pretty simple life as I see it, I'm not into anything on a grand scale. I love gardening, running, cooking, reading, and spending time with my family. I am not at this very moment doing any evangelical work, teaching, or volunteering. The intent here is to make one think. And to hopefully move one to some kind of action. The pendulum of life and it's meaning has been swung so far in the direction of indifference and ignorance that I feel at times it is incumbent upon me to try to instill a sense of seriousness into one's life. There are some things that matter and these important ideas should be discussed, examined and implemented into one's personal philosophy. What makes my ideas important? Well first off they come from a long life of thinking and reading and investigation. They are also ideas from many great thinkers and from Jesus Christ who was the most important teacher in the history of mankind. I think life matters, what you do, what you think, how you act, how you treat others, how you think of yourself, how you think of God, and what you think of God matters. It means something, just like love means something. Love is real and can bring out within us all the full range of emotions. Love is not frivolous, and meaningless, and not something that doesn't move us or carry us away. Love cannot be ignored, and nor should it be. The starting point to understanding life and it's meaning comes from understanding this. God exists, he matters, you matter to Him, and what you think, say, and act matter, in fact more than anything else external to you.

The Misunderstanding of God and His Moral Teachings

I believe in getting to the point. I also believe that there are matters that are important in the hierarchy of  life. Things that matter first. The best analogy that I can use comes from the sport of running. I am a runner. Now a person cannot just make that claim unless we can agree upon with some degree what a "runner" is. In other words we have to be communicating the approximate similar meaning. In our "wishy washy," modern times where relative things and meanings rule the day and there are valueless underpinnings to what is called "truth', it is difficult to get a consensus on just what something is or isn't. Things tend to not matter, and that's a real problem because I'm sticking to my premise that there is a hierarchy of important matters. I have digressed from my analogy. When I say I am a runner and I can with a great deal of assurance, find other runners who would agree with me, I mean that I run a significant distance (miles) on a routine basis. One is not a runner if one shows up at a park and runs a quarter mile every 3-4 months. We can debate the frequency and the distances, the length of training and the pace at which one runs, but with certainty a runner runs a significant distance and runs routinely. At a dinner party, a runner conversing with another runner knows what this means. I personally have run over 10,000 miles in the past 13 years. This leads me (finally) to my point. When I say God, I mean one thing. Unfortunately this meaning has been lost due to a number of things (Reformation, Nominalism, etc) When I say God I mean a Divine Being who is radically distinct from the universe, radically transcendent, and altogether other from his creation, who literally is unimaginable and incomprehensible.(Psalm 145:3) This means that God cannot be shown to be unreal via empirical inquiry because by definition, any empirical inquiry is an investigation of the natural world. God's work is manifested in his creation but GOD IS NOT HIS CREATION. Therefore God cannot be proven not to exist. Belief in God is a matter of faith, but it is not "blind faith" nor is it in any unreasonable. Just look at the constants in the universe, if they did not exist we would have chaos, yet they do. I believe there is ample reason to have faith in God. I also believe that Jesus is God Incarnate, God dwelling among mankind in a specific time in history. I know Jesus, I've studied Jesus. I believe Jesus. Now another problem with "wishy washy" thinking today is the notion that Jesus loves us and all will be well. That is true under two conditions and really they are the same condition. That is we love Him and we obey His commandments. To Jesus obeying His commandments and loving Him was the same thing.  John 14:14.Jesus reinforced the necessity to obey His Father and he taught us the next level of love in His message contain in the Beatitudes. So here is where the misunderstanding comes today. God is way bigger than most people think and God's commandments are not electives that we can pick and choose. People today and many Catholics and Christians think of God existing on THEIR TERMS. So in the order of the hierarchy of things that matter it goes like this: GOD MATTERS and 2nd WHAT HE WOULD LIKE ME TO DO MATTERS TO HIM AND THUS SHOULD MATTER TO ME. Morality and virtues should be the most important priorities in one's life. Think about it.

The Indifference of the Catholic Church - Why she doesn't care about me

Before you get to criticizing what I am about to write with words like, "whiny," "ungrateful," "selfish," "all about you" I'm going to first get down to who I am and  and who I am not.  I am a quiet, unassuming, humble person, not in the least bit interested in recognition or "being in the limelight." People who know me can attest that I would do anything for just about anybody.I love God deeply. I am a family man who raised four children to adulthood. They are mature, intelligent and good human beings, kind and considerate of others.My wife and I have been happily married for 36 years.I am a cradle Catholic, who like many young people left the Church, not by renouncing it, but by ignoring it. I did find my way back and am now a devout, and prayerful Catholic. My children were brought up in Catholic schools and I paid a fortune in tuition for all those years.My wife and I have volunteered countless hours to the Church. I volunteered coaching for many years, in fact I coached youth sports for  over twenty years. We've been on many fundraising committees, home & school association, and on and on. In  2009 I entered a Masters degree program in theology  and in 2010 I decided to put my business on hold and work to evangelize young people by teaching high school religion. As a side note I have had hundreds of hours of spiritual direction with a retired Jesuit priest whom I  visited weekly with for a bout a year and a half. My approach to teaching was to be from true Christian charity. I loved my students and was kind and generous to them. I never sought my own  attention, I just did these things as a matter of honor and stewardship in building God's kingdom. My wife and I went to the adoration chapel and committed for an hour for nearly twenty years. I was a Eucharistic Minister at a local hospital, bringing Holy Communion to the sick every Friday and then Saturdays when I taught. I also taught adult education classes and was involved in the parish's apologetic s group.  When I taught high school many of the children I taught told me I had a profound effect on them. I never wanted credit, I knew it was God working through me. But I found out this much about kids, and the Catholic School System. First, many kids were disrespectful and disinterested and refused to even acknowledge me when I taught them. Not all the children, some were very kind and engaging, others were cruel and hurtful, not giving a care about how I felt, even though I showered them with love. 90% of the kids did not go to Mass on Sundays and many were having sex and using drugs and alcohol. The administration turned a blind eye to all of this. The schools system is only interested in academic achievement and pays lip service to morality and Christian values. They too turn a blind eye to kids who neither go to church or know their faith. I was vigilant in my Moral Theology classes as to developing an understanding of good not from a legalistic, "you must follow the law" approach, but rather from a desire to love back to God who loves us all so much. In my final year at the school the administration and staff were cold to me and down right uncharitable. I was reduced to a spectator at the Senior Retreat, a baby sitter who wasn't allowed to contribute. Then there was the time when the juniors were going for a field trip to a local prison and I wasn't even told about it. After three years I was 'disposed' like an old dishrag, not with any advanced notice but told on the last day of school. I will have completed my Masters in Theology by this Fall, but at 60 years old, I am not in demand, can't even get an interview, dying on the vine. All that I have learned from my life experiences, spiritual directions, years of reading, prayerful meditation, my education in theology (which cost me thousands of dollars), my 36 years of marriage, my parenting skills, will not be shared in building God's Kingdom, not because I don't want to, but because the Church couldn't care less about me. So my head and my heart is back into the business world. Sorry...

Can God Get Close to You?

                                                                              

I've studied the spiritual life, looked at my relationship with God through many years, under many circumstance. I'm just a plain old ordinary man, uncomplicated trying to make sense of the world. That's truly it, nothing more than that pursuit at this time in my life. The few things that I've learned about the mystery of God is that to really encounter Him, in a manner in which you can grow and listen to Him, you have to develop what I call a spiritual life. I think a good analogy would be someone who is an outdoor person. A person who spends a great deal of time outdoors, could be farming, hunting, fishing, trail walking, gardening etc. That person becomes attuned to the external world, he or she becomes sensitive to the small nuances of the the things in nature. The breeze, or stillness of the air, moisture, the angle of the sun, coolness and warmth, the sounds of birds, insects, the ground as you walk. There is a heightened awareness of these things that is missing from an indoor person. Today unfortunately we have many more indoor persons than outdoor persons. In the spiritual life, it is absolutely necessary to understand two things, first silence is an absolute necessity and material attractions prevent the inner self to loose itself. God is always present, but in our quiet meditative persona or state, we can find the course that leads us to Him. To me God and more specifically Jesus, the 2nd Person of the Trinity is the source for understanding the world, the means to figuring things out. The thing to figure out is what happens after my last breath comes out. That's it baby....so if you are not in a state conducive to seeking and finding God (if you are in a state of mortal sin, this becomes extremely difficult), God will not become close to you, not because He can't but because you won't let Him.                                              

The Silent Night

I haven't written a post in this blog since last April when Pope Benedict XVI decided to step down and the conclave had started. Many were surprised at Pope Francis election, he has since demonstrated his very Christ-like imitation in his service to the poor and outcasts of society. He has called on all Christians to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ and identifies evangelization as the center of the Church's concern. I am fond of Pope Francis and see his work not in a radically different direction but rather a synthesis of the philosophy of Pope John Paul II, the theology of Pope Benedict XVI. It is in knowing God, through reason and expounding on his mysteries that we encounter Jesus Christ, who then "lives within us." The title of the post "Silent Night" has for me several different themes: the song itself evokes the wonder, and awe and splendor of a silent night, when God mysteriously enters, yes Christmas is getting near, but I think we should focus on that cold, silent and still night and what is about to happen, why it is about to happen, and why it happened to you and me, focus on it on a very personal level. The other theme of Silent Night is the silence of a world that has shut the door on God. A world that is super materialistic, self absorbed, shallow and superficial. A silent night where church pews are empty, where immorality, violence and sensual pleasure take precedence. A silent night where the pursuit of power and money leaves no room for charity and even less room for God. Yet another theme is the silent night for those living in poverty, the voices that fall silent to the world. Finally, there is a silent night, one that at times is dreadful, as we make our spiritual journey realizing how great sinners we are. The night is still and dark as we await the only real hope we have. We need as Jesus tells us" to stay awake," to hang in there, to turn away from evil, immorality, and turn towards good, findind a place to prepare in our heart for Christ the Savior.

Yes we have a Conclave!

VATICAN CITY — The identity of the new pope fuels enormous anticipation, but the next most breathlessly discussed topic here has been when the cardinals will actually get down to choosing him.
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Cardinal Odilo Scherer of Brazil, center, and Cardinal Geraldo Agnelo of Brazil arrived for a meeting in the Synod Hall at the Vatican on Friday.
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Examining the Conclave
Related

Cardinals Hold 4th Day of Talks on New Pope (March 8, 2013)
Memo From Rome: Pope Wanted. Must Possess Magnetic Charm. And Grit. (March 8, 2013)
The Lede: Video of Preparations Inside the Sistine Chapel for Conclave (March 8, 2013)

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The answer is Tuesday. The cardinals, after five days of meetings and plenty of speculation, settled on the date within a half-hour of the start of an afternoon session on Friday. The news was transmitted by an e-mail from the Vatican press office. Cutting their discussions short suggests that they have moved closer to drawing up a list of candidates, or at least the qualities they want in a new pope — a pastoral communicator, a firm administrator, a reformer of the Vatican’s scandal-tainted bureaucracy. But the field remains wide open, with no one considered a heavy favorite. A two-thirds majority, or 77 of the 115 elector cardinals, is required to elect a pope.

Given the record of conclaves in the past 110 years, it is likely that Catholics will have a new pontiff by the end of next week, in plenty of time for the beginning of Easter ceremonies, starting with Palm Sunday on March 24. The longest of those conclaves was in 1903 (ending in the selection of Pius X) and 1922 (Pius XI), each lasting five days. Three lasted two days, including the one that elected Benedict XVI in 2005.

On Tuesday, the cardinals will first attend a special Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for papal elections, and then in the afternoon they will file into the Sistine Chapel to begin their secret, anonymous balloting. They will hold one round of voting that afternoon and return to cast their ballots again on Wednesday.

The cardinals began meeting on Monday, four days after Benedict XVI left the Vatican forever as pope, the first man to resign the office in nearly 600 years. As part of the rules of papal transition, the cardinals take charge of the church, gather daily to discuss its future and share their hopes and expectations for the next vicar of Christ on earth.

A logistical task comes next: the assigning by lot of rooms for the 115 cardinals at the Vatican’s Santa Marta residence for the duration of the conclave, where they will be denied contact with the outside world. The random assignments ensure a spirit of objectivity, said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi. It ensures that cardinals cannot pick their neighbors, he added.

At their daily briefing on Friday, Vatican press officials showed silent video images of the modest accommodations — a sitting room with a table and facing chairs, a single bed with a wrought-iron headboard, a small television (which will presumably be removed or deactivated), unadorned white walls. The officials also showed images of a luxury suite destined to house the new pope while his apartment in the Apostolic Palace is prepared.

Father Lombardi said that slightly more than 100 of the 150 or so cardinals present had given short speeches about the state of the church and what was needed in the next pope, a subtle form of politicking and auditioning. Another session is scheduled for Saturday.

Vatican analysts and Vaticanisti, those journalists who closely cover the Holy See and papal matters, have offered theories about the significance of the length of the meetings. One view is that Italian cardinals and insiders wanted to move quickly to a conclave to stave off too much scrutiny of the scandals that have washed over the Vatican in recent months. Another is that outsiders and foreign cardinals feel the need to explore questions of corruption and mismanagement more deeply, pushing to extend the talks.

But other factors are at play. The congregation meetings are the last opportunities for cardinals older than 80 — who are not eligible to vote in the conclave — to voice their views publicly about the direction of the church and the kind of pope who should lead it. A more prosaic cause for the timing of the conclave announcement is an interpretation of Vatican rules on declaring a conclave that requires all the elector cardinals to be present to do so. Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Vietnam was the last to arrive on Thursday.

The formal discussions have not been organized according to subject matter. The cardinals speak in the order of their requests.

Normally, the conclave should start 15 to 20 days after the end of a papacy, a period intended to include preparations for a papal funeral and for mourning. But Benedict, in the days before he stepped down, revised the rules to allow an earlier start.

Two of the 117 cardinals under 80 are not attending. They are Cardinal Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja of Indonesia, who cited ill health, and Britain’s most senior cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who said he would not be attending after being accused of “inappropriate acts” with priests. He later acknowledged that he had been guilty of sexual misconduct.

On Friday, the cardinals voted to accept the reasons given for the two absences, as they are required to do. The vote was a reminder of the need to choose a pope who is untainted by improprieties. “They’re very concerned about getting somebody clean,” said Robert Mickens, the Vatican correspondent for The Tablet, a London-based Catholic weekly. “The O’Brien scandal is right in their faces.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 8, 2013


An earlier version of this article misidentified the week in that begins with Palm Sunday, this year on March 24. It is Holy Week, not Easter week. (Easter week is the week that begins with Easter Sunday.)

Candidates for the March Conclave

Cardinal Angelo Scola - Milan

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez - Honduras

Cardinal Leonardi Sandri - Argentina

Cardinal Mark Ouellet - Canada

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco - Genoa

Cardinal peter Turkson - Ghana

Cardinal Timoth Dolan USA

Let the Conclave Start - A New Pope for Holy Week & Easter

Vatican Raises Possibility of Early March Conclave

By Nicole Winnfield

Associated Press






 

AP Photo Alessandra Tarantino

 

 

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15-20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant. Vatican spokesman The Rev. Federico Lombardi said that the Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and that "this is a question that people are discussing." "It is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy" to move up the start of conclave, Lombardi said. He explained that the 15-20 day rule is in place to allow time for the arrival of "all those (cardinals) who are absent" to take part in the conclave in the usual circumstances of convening after a pope dies. But in this case, the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end on Feb. 28 with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part in the conclave, Lombardi said. The date of the conclave's start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Palm Sunday Mass followed by Easter Sunday on March 31. In order to have a new pope in place in time for the most solemn liturgical period on the church calendar, he would need to be installed as pope by Sunday, March 17. Given the tight time-frame, speculation has mounted that some sort of arrangement would be made to start the conclave earlier than a strict reading of the law would allow. Questions about the start of the conclave have swirled ever since Benedict announced on Feb. 11 that he would retire, the first pontiff in 600 years to abdicate rather than stay in office until death. As a result, his decision has created a host of questions about how the Vatican will proceed, given that its procedures for the so-called "sede vacante" - or vacant seat - period between papacies won't begin with a pope's death. Lombardi also gave more details about Benedict's final audiences and plans for retirement, saying already 35,000 people have requested tickets for his final general audience to be held in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 27. He said Benedict would spend about two months in the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome immediately after his abdication, to allow enough time for renovations to be completed on his retirement home - a converted monastery inside the Vatican walls. That means Benedict would be expected to return to the Vatican, no longer as pope, around the end of April or beginning of May, Lombardi said. He was asked if and when the pope would meet with his successor and whether he would participate in his installation Mass; like many open questions about the end of Benedict's papacy, both issues simply haven't yet been resolved, Lombardi said.

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Thoughts on Pope Benedict XVI

Now that the shock has run its course on Pope Benedict's resignation as the Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Christ. Here are some of my thoughts and those of others. I love Pope Benedict XVI. He's a brilliant, holy, and blessed servant of God. He connected this generation to that of his predecessor Pope John Paul II. No one on that joyous day in April 2005, thought his papacy would be very long, he was already 78 years old. I loved his sweet Bavarian accent, it reflected his humility and his love for his flock. I love how he faked out his critics by making his first Encyclical "Caritas in Veritate" about Christian charity. His stature as a theologian is world renown, and his voice resonated against the evils of the world, partcicularly the extreme danger of relativism. The Pope demonstrated Catholic discernment in his remarks. We Christians are not robots whom God dictates to do this or that. There aren't voices going off randomly that tell us what to do after we read a particular Scripture passage. The Pope tells us,  After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God... He is fully aware of the magnimity of his decision, conscious of his role in the Church at this moment and the future. He is the Servant of the Servant. After this discernment and mutiple examination of conscience he concludes I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. He is doing this of his own volition, For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter... It is in our acts of true freedom with the guidance from God that we discern what and where God wants us to be. This is the model for discovering our vocations, as we read in Sunday's Gospel after Peter's fishing encounter with Christ, he and the others, When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
We are family in this Church and Our Holy Father has decided to pass the mantel of Shepherding us to anothyer man. We need to pray this Lenten season that God through the Holy Spirit brings to us a vibrant, dynamic, holy and spiritual leader who will stem the tide of secularism, with the Truth of Jesus Christ.

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #16

Third Tuesday

CHRIST is TRULY OUR REDEEMER

You were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.  1Peter 1:19.

By the sin of our first parents, the whole human race was alienated from God, as is taught in the second chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians. It was not from God s power that we were thereby cut off, but from that sight of God s face to which His children and His servants are admitted. Then again we descended beneath the usurped power of the devil. Man had consented to the devil s will and, thereby, had made himself subject to the devil ; subject, that is to say, as far as lay in man s power, for since he was not his own property, but the property of another, he could not really give himself away to the devil. By His Passion, then, Christ did two things. He freed us from the power of the enemy, conquering him by virtues which were the very contraries to the vices by which he had conquered man by humility, namely, by obedience and by an austerity of suffering that was in direct opposition to the enjoyment of forbidden food. Furthermore, by making satisfaction for the sin committed, Christ joined man with God and made him the child and servant of God. This emancipation had about it two things that make it a kind of buying. Christ is said to have bought us back or to have redeemed us inasmuch as he snatched us from the power of the devil, as a king is said, by hard-fought battles, to redeem his kingdom that the enemy has occupied. Christ is again said to have redeemed us inasmuch as He placated God for us, paying as it were the price of His satisfaction on our behalf, that we might be freed both from the penalty and from the sin.

This price, His precious blood, he paid that he might make satisfaction for us not to the devil but to God. Again, by the victory that His Passion was, he took us away from the devil. The devil had indeed had dominion over us, but unjustly, since what power he had was usurped. Nevertheless, it was but just that we should fall under his yoke, seeing that it was by him we were overcome. This is why it was necessary that the devil should be overcome by the very contrary of the forces by which he had himself overcome. For he had not overcome by violence, but by a lying persuasion to sin.

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #16

Third Week in Lent Sunday
IT IS THE PASSION OF CHRIST THAT HAS FREED US FROM SIN
He hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Revelations 1:5)
The Passion of Christ is the proper cause of the remission of our sins, and that in three ways:
1. Because it provokes us to love God. St.Paul says, God commends his charity towards us; because when as yet we were sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).Through charity we obtain forgiveness for sin, as it says in the gospel, Many sins are forgiven here because she has loved much (Luke 8:47).
2. The Passion of Christ is the cause of the forgiveness of sins because it is an act of redemption. Since Christ is himself our head, he has,by his own Passion undertaken from love and obedience delivered us his members from our sins, as it were at the price of his Passion. Just as a man might by some act of goodness done with his hands buy himself off for a wrong thing he had done with his feet. For as man’s natural body is a unity, made up of different limbs, so the whole Church, which is the mystical body of Christ, is reckoned as a single person with its own head, and this head is Christ.
3. The Passion of Christ was a thing equal to its task. For the human nature through which Christ suffered his Passion is the instrument of His divine nature. Whence all the actions and all the sufferings of that human nature wrought to drive out sin, are wrought by a power that is divine. Christ, in His Passion, delivered us from our sins in a causal way, that is to say, he set up for us a thing which would be a cause of our emancipation, a thing whereby any sin might at any time be remitted, whether committed now, or in times gone by, or in time to come : much as a physician might make a medicine from which all who are sick may be healed, even those sick in the years yet to come. But since what gives the Passion of Christ its excellence is the fact that it is the universal cause of the forgiveness of sins, it is necessary that we each of us ourselves make use of it for the forgiveness of our own particular sins. This is done through Baptism, Penance and the other sacraments, whose power derives from the Passion of Christ. By faith also we make use of the Passion of Christ, in order to receive its fruits, as St. Paul says, Christ Jesus, whom God has proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood (Romans3:25). But the faith by which we are cleansed from sin is not that faith which can exist side by side with sin the faith called formless but faith formed, that is to say, faith made alive by charity. So that the Passion of Christ is not through faith applied merely to our understanding but also to our will. Again it is from the power of the Passion of Christ that the sins are forgiven which are forgiven by faith in this way.

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #15

HOW ARE WE TO SERVE GOD ?
1. We must serve God both by external acts and by internal acts. We are possessed of a double nature, we are intellectual beings and sentient beings also. We should therefore offer to God a double adoration a spiritual adoration, consisting in the interior devotion of the mind, and a bodily adoration made up of the external humiliation of the body. And since in all acts done in acknowledgment that God is God the external act depends on the internal for the internal act is the more important so the external acts of adoration are done for the sake of the internal adoration. That is to say, that it is by our gestures of humility that we are moved to subject ourselves to God in our inclinations and our will. This is due to our nature being what it is, for it is natural to man to proceed to things that can only be known through the intelligence from the starting point of things seen, felt, heard and known by the senses. So, just as prayer has its origin as something in the mind, and is only in the second place expressed in words, adoration also consists, primarily and in its origin, in an internal reverence of God and only secondarily in certain bodily signs that we are humbling ourselves : such bodily signs, for example, as genuflections to show our weakness by comparison with God, or prostrations to show that we are nothing of ourselves. (2-2 84 n.)
2. In doing external acts we must use a certain measure of discretion. The attitude of a religious man towards the acts by which he acknowledges God to be God, is quite different according as those acts are internal or external. It is principally in the internal acts, the acts by which he believes, hopes and loves, that man s good consists and what makes man good in God s sight. Whence it is written, The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). Man’s good and what makes man good in God s sight does not, principally, consist in external acts. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, says St. Paul (Romans 15:17). Whence the internal acts are as the end, the thing that is to say, which is sought for its own sake : the external acts, through which the body is shown as God s creature, are but as means, i.e., things directed to and existing for the sake of the end. Now when it is a question of seeking the end we do not measure our energy or resource, but the greater the end the better our endeavor. When, on the other hand, it is a question of things we only seek because of the end, we measure our energy according to the relation of the things to the end. Thus a physician restores health as much as he possibly can. He does not give as much medicine as he possibly can, but only just so much as he sees to be necessary for the attainment of health. In a similar way man puts no measure to his faith, his hope, and his charity, but the more he believes, hopes and loves, so much the better man he is. That is why it is said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).But in the external actions we must use discretion and make charity the measure of our use of them. (In Romans 12.)

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #14

THE WORSHIP DUE TO GOD
Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me. Exodus 20:3 .
We are forbidden to worship any but the one God, and there are five things which show the prohibition to be reasonable.

1. God s dignity. If this is disregarded we insult God. To all dignity is due proper reverence. And we call a man a traitor who refuses to do the King due reverence. This is what some men do with respect to God. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of four footed beasts, and of creeping things, says St. Paul (Romans 1: 23). And this is the most serious of all offences against God.

2. God’s bountifulness. Every good thing we possess comes from God. It is in fact part of God s dignity that he is the maker and giver of all good things. When thou opens thy hand, all things shall be filled with good (Psalm53:28). You are therefore ungrateful beyond measure if you do not recognize that the good you have is his gift. Nay, you make to yourself another god as truly as the children of Israel, delivered from Egypt, made themselves an idol. This is to be like the harlot of whom the prophet writes, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink (Osee 2:5). This sin is also committed by those who place their hope in another than God, that is, when they seek help from another in preference to asking it from God. Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord (Psalm 36:5), and St. Paul marvels at the Galatians, But now, after that you have known God, or are rather known by God, how turn you again to the weak and needy elements, which you desire to serve again? (Galatians 8:9).

3. Our promises. We have renounced the devil and pledged our fidelity to God alone. This pledge we must keep unbroken. A man making void the law of Moses, died without any mercy, under two or three witnesses. How much more do you think he deserves worse punishment, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and bath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and has offered an affront to the Spirit of Grace ? (Hebrews 10:28-29)The woman that has an husband, while her husband is living she shall be called an adulteress, if she be with another man (Romans7:3), and such deserves to be burned. Woe to the sinner, to whoever enters the land by a double way, to those who limp one foot on each side of the division.

4. The weight of the devil’s yoke. You shall serve strange gods day and night, says the Prophet, which shall not give you any rest (Jerimiah16:13). For the devil does not rest content with one sin, but, the first sin committed, strives all the more to induce us to another. Whoever commits sin is the slave of sin. Hence it is not an easy thing to find one’s way out from sin. St. Gregory says, The sin which is not lightened by penance, soon, by its very weight, drags us to further sin. It is the very contrary that is characteristic of God s dominion over us. For God’s commands are not burdensome. My yoke is sweet and my burden is light (Matthew 11:30). A man is accounted as doing enough if he does for God as much as he has done for sin. St. Paul, for example, says, as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity ; so now yield your members to serve justice, unto sanctification (Romans 6:19).But of the slaves of the devil the Scripture says, We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways (Wisdom36:7), and also, They have labored to commit iniquity (Jeremiah 9:5).

5. The immensity of our reward. No law promises so great a recompense as that which we are promised in the law of Christ. To the Saracens are offered rivers of milk, and honey, to the Jews the promised land. But to Christians angelic glory. They shall be as the angels of God in heaven (Matthew 22: 30). Thinking on this St. Peter says, in the Gospel, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life (John 7: 69).

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #13

OUR WATCH MUST BE CEASELESS
But this know ye, that if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and not suffer his house to be broken open. Matthew24:43.

Since we are uncertain which hour it will be, we must watch the whole night long. The house is the soul. Therein man should be at rest. When I go into my house, that is, into my conscience, I shall repose myself with her (Wisdom 8: 16). The good man of the house is as that king, that sits on the throne of judgment, who scatters away all evil with his look (Proverbs20:8). Sometimes a thief breaks into the house. The thief is any plausible false theory, or indeed any temptation. It is said to be a thief in the sense of the gospel, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up another way, the same is a thief and a robber (John10:1). The door is an excellent name for natural knowledge or natural rights. Whoever enters through his reason, enters through the door. But whoever comes in through desires, or through wrath or the like, is a thief. Thieves work by night. We have no fear of what comes to us in the day. So it is that temptations never come to the man whose mind is given to contemplation of divine things. Let him however slacken in that service and presently comes temptation. Hence the timely prayer of Holy Scripture, When my strength shall jail, do not Thou forsake me (Psalms70:9). We must then watch, since we know not when the Lord shall come, shall come that is, to judgment. Or perhaps we may refer it to the day we shall die. For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord shall so come as a thief in the night, for when they shall say peace and security, then shall sudden destruction come upon them (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Wherefore, says Our Lord, be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of Man shall come(Matthew 24: 44). St. John Chrysostom notes that men attached to their property will sit up all the night to watch over it. If they can be so watchful for the things that pass away, how much more should they not be watchful over spiritual treasures. We may notice also a parable of St. Augustine’s. There are three servants and they look forward affectionately to the return of their master. The first says, My lord will come quickly, therefore I shall watch for him. The second says, My lord will be late, but I will watch none the less. The third says, At what hour my lord will come I know not, and for this reason I will take care to; Which servant spoke best ? St. Augustine says the third. The first risks a sad deception, for if he thinks the lord will soon arrive, and in fact the lord is delayed, the servant runs the danger of sleeping through weariness. The second, too, may find he has made a mistake, but he runs no danger. But it is the third who does well, for being uncertain he is continually on the alert. It is therefore a misfortune to fix in our minds any special time. (In Matthew 25)

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #12

THE NEED TO BE WATCHFUL
Watch ye therefore because you know not what hour your Lord will come. Matthew 24:42.
1. Our Lord warns us to be watchful, placing before us our uncertainty as to when we shall die.He says to us, The day is not certain. Of two that are working one shall be taken and the other left and no man can be certain which of the two shall be his lot. Therefore you should be careful and watchful. Watch ye therefor; Then, too, as St. Jerome says, Our Lord left the moment of life’s ending uncertain to help us ever to be watchful. For there are three ways in which man may sin; his senses are idle, or he ceases to move, or he sleeps. Hence, Watch ye, that your senses may be lifted up in contemplation. I sleep, says Holy Scripture, but my heart watches (Canticles 2). Likewise, Watch ye, lest you sleep in death. Whoever occupies himself with good works may be said to watch. Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Again watch, lest you carelessly fall asleep. How long wilt thou sleep sluggard (Proverbs 6:9).
2. Because you know not what hour your Lord will come. St. Augustine says this is written for the Apostles, for those who lived before us, and for ourselves and it is necessary for all of us because Our Lord comes to all and comes in two ways.
He comes at the end of the world to all men generally, and he comes to each man at his own end,that is, at his death. There is thus a double coming and in each case God has willed that its hour should be uncertain. Moreover these two comings answer each to the other, for the second will find us as we were found at the first. As St. Augustine says, The world’s last day finds unprepared all those whom their own last day found in like condition.
Our Lord’s words, Watch ye therefore and the rest may also be understood with reference to the unseen coming of the Lord into our souls. If he come to me, it is written in Sacred Scripture, I shall not see him (Job 9:11) And so it is that He comes to many and they do not see Him. Therefore should we watch with much carefulness, so that when He knocks we may open to Him. Behold I stand at the gate and knock. If any man shall hear my voice and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me (Revelation 3:20). (In Matthew 24)

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #11

THE REMEMBRANCE OF OUR LORD’S PASSION
Think diligently upon him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself ; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. Hebrews 12:3.

1. We are advised to think diligently that is, to think upon Him over and over again. In all thyways, says Holy Scripture, think upon him (Proverbs 3:6). The reason for which is that no matter what anxiety may befall us, we have a remedy in the cross. For there we find obedience to God. He humbled himself becoming obedient, says St. Paul (Philippians2:8).Likewise, we find a loving forethought for those akin to him, shown in the care he had, when upon the very cross, for his mother. We find, too, charity for his fellows, for on the cross he prayed for sinners, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). He showed, also, patience in suffering, I was dumb and was humbled,and kept silence from good things : and my sorrow was renewed (Psalm38:3). Finally he showed, in all things, a perseverance to the end, for he persevered until death itself. Father, into thy bands I commend my spirit (Luke 23:46). So, on the cross we find an example of all the virtues. As St. Augustine says, the cross was not only the gallows where Our Lord suffered in patience; it was a pulpit from which he taught mankind.
2. But what is it that we are to think, over and over again ?
Three things :
(a) The kind of Passion it was. He endured opposition that is, suffering from spoken words. For instance they said, you say that you can destroy the temple of God (Matthew 27:40). It is said in the Psalms (Psalms 17:44), Thou will deliver me from the contradictions of the people, and it was foretold that Our Lord should be, A. sign which shall be contradicted (Luke 2:34). St. Paul, in the text, says such opposition, meaning so grievous and so humiliating an opposition. all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow (Lamentations 1:12).
(b) From whom He suffered the Passion. It was from sinners, from those for whom He was suffering. Christ died once for our sins, the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18).
(c) Who it was that suffered. Before the Passion, from the beginning of the world he had suffered in his members, but in the Passion He (The word in the Latin text which St. Thomas has before him is contradiction) suffered in his own person. When the words against himself. Who his own se/f, says St. Peter (i Pet. ii. 24), bore our sins in his body upon the tree.. To think diligently upon Our Lord s Passion is a very profitable employment, which is why St. Paul adds that you be not wearied fainting in your minds. The Passion of Christ keeps us from fainting. St. Gregory says, If we recall the Passion of Christ, nothing seems so hard that it cannot be borne with equanimity; You will not then fail, worn out in spirit, in loyalty to the true faith, nor in the prosecution of good works. St. Paul again gives a reason for our courageous perseverance when he says, in the following verse, You have not yet resisted unto blood (Hebrews7:4).As though he said, You must not faint at these anxieties your own troubles cause you. You have not yet borne as much as Christ. For He indeed shed his blood for us. (In Hebrews 12)

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #10

GOODNESS OF GOD
He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how has he not also, with him, given us all things? Romans 8:32.
1. Since the Apostle makes mention of many sons when he says (ibid. v. 15), You have receivedthe spirit of adoption of sons, he now separates this Son from all these by saying his own Son, that is to say, not an adoptive son, but a son of his own nature, co-eternal with him, that son of whom the Father says, in St. Matthew (3:17), This is my beloved Son. The words he spared not mean only that God did not exempt Him from the penalty, for there was not in Him any fault to be matter for sparing. God the Father did not withhold from his Son an exemption from the penalty as a way of adding anything to himself. God is perfect. But he so acted, subjecting his Son to the Passion, because this was useful for us. This is why St. Paul adds, but delivered him up for us as meaning that God exposed Christ to the Passion for the expiation of all our sins. He was delivered for our sins, says Isaiah, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 3: 5,6). God the Father delivered him over to death, decreeing him to take flesh and to suffer, inspiring his human will with a burning love by which, eagerly, he would undergo his Passion. He delivered himself for us, St. Paul says of Our Lord (Ephesians v.2). Judas, too, and the Jews delivered him, but by an activity external to His. There is something else to notice in the words, He that spared not his own Son. It is as though it said: Not only has God given other saints over to suffering for the benefit of mankind, but even his own, proper Son.

2. God s own Son, then, being made over for us, all things have been given us, for St. Paul adds, How has he not also with him, that is, in giving Him to us, given us all things. In other words, all things thereby are turned to our profit. We are given the highest things of all, namely the Divine Persons, for our ultimate joy. We are given reasoning minds in order to live together with them now. We are given the lower things of creation for our use, not only the things which appeal to us but the things which are hostile. All things are yours, says St. Paul to us, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1 Corinthians 3: 22, 23). Whence we may see how evidently true are the words of the Psalm (Psalm 33:10), There is no want to them that fear him. (In Romans 8.)

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #9

THE SEED
The Sower went out to sow his seed. Luke 8:4.
1. The keenness of the sower. It is Christ who goes forth, and in three ways. He goes from the bosom of the Father, and yet without a change of place; from Jewry to the Gentiles ; fromthe private depths of wisdom to the public life of teaching. It is Christ who sows. Now the seed is the source ot fruit. Whence every good action is clue to God. What is it that He sows ? His own seed, says the gospel. That seed is the Word of God. And what does it produce ? It produces others, like unto Him from whom itself proceeds, for it makes them sons of God.
2. The obstacle in the way of the seed. The obstacle is threefold, because for the growth of the seed three conditions are necessary, namely it must be remembered, it must take root in love, it must have loving care. The growth is therefore hindered if in place of the first condition there is flightiness of mind, instead of the second there is hardness of heart, and if, in place of the loving care, there is a development of vices.
(a) Some fell by the wayside. As the way is free for all who care to walk, so does the heart lie open to every chance thought. So it is that when the word of God falls upon a heart that is careless and vain, it falls by the wayside and is doubly imperiled. St. Matthew speaks of one danger only, that the birds of the air came and ate it up. St. Luke speaks of two, for the seed is trampled into the ground as well as carried off by the birds. So when the careless receive the word of God it is crushed by their worthless thoughts or their evil company. Whence great joy for the devil if only he can steal away this seed and trample upon it.
(b) Hardness of heart. This is contrary to charity, for it is in the nature of love to melt things. Hardness means locked up in itself narrowed within its own limits; and love, since it causes the lover to be moved to what he loves, is a thing that liberates, widens, pours itself out. St. Matthew says therefore, some fell upon stony ground, and Ezechiel, I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh (Ezech. 37:26). For there are some men whose hearts are so deprived of love of any kind that they are scarcely flesh and blood at all. There are others who have indeed a natural affection but it is slight and has no deepness. To have deepness is to have a power of loving deeply. The man may be said to love deeply who loves all things and whatever he loves for the love of God, and who puts the love of God before all else. There is another type of man that does indeed delight in God, but delights more in things. Men of this sort do not pour themselves out, nor have they much deepness of earth. The gospel continues, And they spring up immediately for they who think deeply, think long, but they whose thought is shallow plunge into action at once, and inevitably pass away quickly. So these men hear quickly, but take no root in what they hear, for they have no deepness of earth, that is in the earth of loving charity.
(c) Destruction of the fruit. The fruit is lost because when there arises tribulation each man snatches for what he most loves, and the man who loves wealth looks only to his riches. And when the sun was up they were scorched, that is, because they lacked strength. And because they had not root, they withered away, for God was not their root. Others fell among thorns, anxieties, quarrels and such like things. And the thorns grew up and choked them. (In Matthew 13)

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #8

ON REFORMING OURSELVES
Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. Romans 12: 2.
1. What is forbidden is the forming of one self after the pattern of the world. Be not conformed to this world, that is, to the things which pass away with time. For this present world is a kind ofmeasure of those tilings which pass away with time. A man forms himself after the pattern of things transitory when, willingly and lovingly, he gives himself to serve them. Those also form themselves after that pattern who imitate the lives of the worldly, This then I say and testify in the Lord : That henceforward you walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind (Ephesians4: 17).

2. We are bidden to undertake a reformation of the interior man when it is said, But be reformed in the newness of your mind. By mind is here meant the reason, considered as the faculty by which man makes judgments about what he ought to do. In man, as God first created him, this faculty existed in all the completeness and vigor it could need. Holy Scripture tells us of our first parents that God filled their hearts with wisdom and showed them both good and evil (Ecclesiastics.17:6). But through sin this faculty declined in power and, as it were, grew old, losing its beauty and its brilliance. The Apostle warns us to form ourselves again, that is, to recover that completeness and distinction of mind that once was ours. This can indeed be regained by the grace of the Holy Ghost, and we should therefore use every endeavor to share in that grace those who lack that grace that they may obtain it, and those who already have gained it faithfully to progress and persevere. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, says St. Paul (Ephesians 4:23). Or again, in another sense, be renewed in your external actions, that is to say, in the newness of your mind i.e., according to the new thing, grace, which you have internally received.
3. The reason for this warning is that you may prove what is the will of God. We know what befalls a man whose sense of taste suffers in an illness, how he ceases to have a true judgment of flavors and begins to loathe pleasantly-tasting things and to crave for what is loathsome. So it is with the man whose inclinations are corrupted from his conforming himself to the things of this world. He has no longer a true judgment where what is good for him is concerned. It is only the man whose inclinations are healthy and well directed, whose mind is made new again by grace, who can truly judge what is good and what is not. Therefore on this account is it written, Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind that you may prove, that is, that you may know by experience. As again it says in the psalm, Taste and see that the Lord is sweet (Psalm32:9). What is the will of God: that is, to say the will by which he wills us to be saved. This is the will of God your sanctification (1 Thessolonians4:3). The will of God is good, because God wills that we should will to do what is good, and He leads us to this through His commandments. I will show thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of thee (Micah 6: 8). The will of God is agreeable in as much as to him who is rightly ordered it is a pleasure to do what God wills us to do. Nor is the will of God merely useful as a means to achieve our destiny, it is a link joining us with our destiny and in that respect it is perfect. Such then is the will of God as those experience it who are not formed after the pattern of this world, but are formed over again in the newness of their minds. As to those who remain in the old staleness, fashioned after the world, they judge the will of God not to be a good but a burden and useless. (In Romans 17)

WILL CONTINUE EACH DAY

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #7

THE NEED FOR CAUTION
Wherefore he that thinks himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 12:1.
1.The case of the Jews who, in punishment, were overthrown in the desert (ibid verse 5)is a warning for us. These words of the Scripture contain four things which should attract the wise man’s attention, namely the multitude of those who fell, for it says Wherefore ; then the uncertainty of those who still stand, for it adds he that thinks himself to stand and thirdly, the need for caution, for it adds let him take heed and finally the ease with which disaster comes, for it says lest he fall. St. Paul says wherefore as if to say these men, for all that they have had the advantage of God’s gifts, nevertheless, because of their sins, perished, wherefore, bearing this in mind, he that thinks himself, by whatever kind of subtle reasoning, to stand, that is, to be in a state of grace and charity, let him take heed, diligently attending to it, lest he fall, whether by sinning himself or by inducing others to sin. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer says Isaiah (24:12), and the Psalmist, A thousand shall fall at thy side (Psalm90:7), and St. Paul himself, in another place, says therefore, See how you walk, circumspectly (Ephesians 5:15).
2. We must note that the things which drive us to a fall are numerous.
(a) Weakness, lack of strength ; as children, the aged and the sick fall in the natural life. AsIsaiah says, They shall fall through infirmity (Isaiah. 40:30). This happens to us through lukewarmness in well doing and through too frequent changing.
(b) We fall under the weight of our sins, as asses fall under a load that is too heavy. The workers of iniquity have fallen (Psalms 35:13). And this happens through our neglect to repent.
(c) Through a multitude of things drawing us, as a tree or a house falls over on the crowd that tugs at it. We fall in this way by the on rush of enemies.
(d) The slipperiness of the road, and so we fall as travelers fall into the mud. Take heed lest thou slip with thy tongue and fall (Ecclesiastics. 28:30). We fall thus through carelessness in guarding our senses.
(e) A variety of traps and we fall like the bird taken in the nets. A just man shall fall seven times (Proverbs24:16). And this happens through the corruption of created things.
(f) Ignorance of what one ought to do, and we fall easily as do the blind. If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit (Matthew 15:14). This comes about through our not learning things necessary to us.
(g) The example of others who fall, as the angels fell by the example of Lucifer. A justman falling down before the wicked, is as a fountain troubled by the foot, a spring that has suffered defilement (Proverbs24:26). And this happens when we imitate the wicked.
(h) The heaviness of the flesh : for the body when corrupted weighs down the soul, as does a stone that hangs at the neck of a swimmer. A mountain in falling cometh to naught (Job 14: 18). And this is what comes of pampering the body. (In 1 Corinthians 10.)
I WILL POST THE NEXT MEDITATION SOON

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations on Lent #6

THE REWARD
Every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labor. 1Corinthinians 3:8.

1. This reward is at once common to all men and particular to each.

(a) It is common to all because that which all shall see and all enjoy is the same, that is to say
God, Then shalt thou abound in delights in the almighty (Job 22:26). In that day the Lord of hosts
shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of joy to the residue of his people (Isaiah 27:5). And therefore St. Matthew says (20: 9) that to every laborer in the vineyard there is given one penny.
(b) The reward is yet special for each individual. One man shall see more clearly than another, and shall enjoy more fully, according to the measure allotted him. Hence the words in St. John (14:2), In my father s house there are many mansions for which reason too, it was said, Everyone shall receive his own reward. St. Paul shows how the extent of each one’s reward will be measured when he says, according to his own labor. Not that by this is meant an equality as between the amount of labor and the amount of the reward, for as it is said in 2 Corinthians 4:17, That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, works for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. The equality promised is the equality of proportion, an equality such that, where there has been greater labor there will be greater reward.
2. The labor can be considered as greater in three ways:
(1) According to the degree of love that inspires it. It is to this indeed that the essence
of the reward the vision and enjoyment of God makes a return. St. John (12:21) says, He that loves me, shall be loved of my Father : and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Whence it follows that he who labors with greater love, even though the labor entailed is less, will receive more of the essential reward.
(2) According to the kind of work it is. As in human enterprises the greater rewards go to those whose labor is itself of a more noble character (for example, the architect, though he labors less with his body, receives more than the manual worker), so it is in spiritual matters. He who is engaged in a work itself more noble, even though it be that he has labored less with his body, will receive a greater reward at any rate as far as some accidental privilege of glory. Thus there is a special splendor reserved for those who teach, for the virgins and for the martyrs.
(3) According to the amount of work done and this can be understood in two ways. Some times it is the actual larger amount of work which merits the larger reward. This is especially true in what concerns remission of punishment; the longer one fasts, for example, or the more distant the place of one’s pilgrimage, the greater the remission merited. So too, there is a greater joy from the greater amount of work done. Sometimes however, the labor is greater from lack of will to do the work, for the things we do willingly are less laborious in the doing. And in such cases the amount of the labor does not increase the reward. Rather does it reduce thereward. As Isaiah says (19:31), They shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint, and in the preceding verse warning us, youths shall faint-, and labor, and young men shall fall by infirmity. (In 1 Corinthians 3.)

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations for Lent #5

GOOD WORKS
If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stoves, wood, hay, stubble, every man’s work shall be manifest. 1 Corinthians 3: 12-13.
1. The works that man relies on in matters spiritual and divine are compared to gold, silver and precious stones, things substantial, brilliant and precious, yet they are compared in such a way that gold symbolizes those things by which man tends to God Himself by contemplation and love. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire-tried (Revelation 3:18), that is, wisdom with charity. Bysilver are meant those acts by which man clings to the spiritual realities he must believe, love and contemplate. So it is that silver is interpreted as referring to love of one’s neighbor. By precious stones is to be understood the work of the different virtues with which man’s soul is decked.
Those human activities, on the other hand, by means of which man acquires material goods, are compared to stubble, or chaff, worthless rubbish, glittering and easily burnt. There are however grades in this rubbish, some things being more stable than others, some things more easily consumed than the rest. Men themselves, for example, are more worthy than other carnal things, and, by succession, humanity escapes destruction. Men are hence compared to wood. Man’s flesh however is easily corrupted, by sickness and by death, whence it is compared to hay. All things which make for the glory of such a being speedily come to naught, whence they are compared to chaff or stubble.
To build with gold, silver and precious stones is therefore to build, upon the foundation of faith, something related to the contemplation of the wisdom of divine things, to try love of God, to following of the saints, to the service of one’s neighbor and to the exercise of virtues. To build with wood, hay and chaff is to build according to plans that are no more than human, for the convenience of the body, and for outward show.
2. That men occupy themselves with purely human things may come about in three ways :
(1) They may place the whole ultimate purpose of their life in the satisfaction of bodily needs.
Now to do this is a mortal sin, and therefore in this way a man does not so much build as destroy the foundation, and lay another of a different kind. For the end or ultimate purpose is the foundation in all that relates to desires.
(2) They may in using purely corporal things have nothing else in view but the glory of God.
In this case they are not building with wood, hay and chaff, but with gold, silver and precious stones.
(3) Although they do not place in purely corporal things the ultimate purpose of life, nor because of them will to act against God, they are more influenced by these things than they ought to be. The result is that they are thereby held back somewhat from a care for the things that are God s, and thus they sin venially. And it is this which is really meant by the phrase about building with wood, hay, and chaff, because activities that relate merely to the care of earthly goods have about them something of a venial fault, since they provoke a love of earthly things that is greater than it should be. It is in fact this love which, according to the degree of its tenacity, is compared to wood, to hay and to chaff. (In 1 Corinthians 3)
MORE TO FOLLOW LOOK FOR THESE DAILY MEDITATIONS

St. Thomas Aquinas Meditations for Lent #4

THE PRAYER OF OUR LORD IN THE GARDEN
1. And going a little further He fell upon his face, praying and saying : My Father. (Matthew 27:39)
Our Lord here recommends to us three conditions to be observed when we pray.
(1) Solitude: because going a little further he separated himself even from those whom he had chosen. When thou shalt pray enter into thy chamber and having shut the door pray to thy Father in secret (Matthew6:6). But notice he went not far away but a little, that He might show that he is not far from those who call upon Him, and also that they might sec him praying and learn to pray in like fashion.
(2) Humility: He fell upon his face, giving there by an example of humility. This because humility is necessary for prayer and because Peter had said : Yea, though I should die with thee, I mil not deny thee (Matthew 26:35). Therefore did Our Lord fall, to show us we should not trust in our own strength.
(3) Devotion: when He said My Father. It is essential that when we pray we pray from devotion. He says My Father because He is uniquely God’s Son; we are God’s children by adoption only. (In Matthew 26:2.)
If it be possible let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt (Matthew26:39).
Here we consider the tenor of prayer. Christ was praying according to the prompting of his sense nature, in so far, that is, as his prayer, as advocate for his senses, was expressing the inclinations of his senses, proposing to God, by prayer, what the desire of his senses suggested.
And He did this that He might teach us three things :
(1) That he had taken a true human nature with all its natural inclinations.
(2) That it is lawful for man to will, according to his natural inclination, a thing which God does not will.
(3) That man ought to subject his own inclination to the divine will.
Whence St. Augustine says: Christ, living as a man, showed a certain private human willingness when he said, Let this chalice pass from me. This was human willingness, a man’s own will and, so to say, his private desire. But Christ, since He wills to be a man of right heart, a man directed to God, adds, never the less, not as I will but as thou wilt.
And in this he teaches by example how we should arrange our inclinations so that they do not come into conflict with the divine rule. Whence we learn that there is nothing wrong in our shrinking from what is naturally grievous, so long as we bring our emotion into line with the divine will. Christ had two wills, one from his Father in so far as he was God and the other in so far as he was man. This human will he submitted in all things to his Father, giving us in this an example to do likewise, I came down from heaven, not to do my will, for the will of him that sent me (John 6:.38). (In Matthew 26.)