Jan 28 Thomas Aquinas entry 3, thanksgiving eve 2010

Thom and Jack
Good morning, I love you

It’s Thanksgiving eve, 2010. Again, I am here and you are there. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence when I was in school. Tuscaloosa is a long way from New York or Chicago; and it’s only a four day holiday. What’s your excuse?

In our faith formation class this past Sunday, we tied together lessons about prayer and sacrifice and action in Jesus’ stead with the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Go around the table and thank each person for a specific sacrifice they made for you. It prompted me to write Grandpa a note with my thanksgiving day card. Even at 61, I am still a son. Being also a father, I am much more aware of the sacrifices Grandpa did for me; and am aware of many more sacrifices he likely made based on extrapolating from some of mine.

One of the things to be thankful for is the gift of our own lives. A gift God made to our parents. It is also a gift God made to us – He created us. That’s a gift to ourselves. Remember to thank God for yourself, your talents, your charisms, your resources, but essentially for your very being.

Deo Gratias!



January 28

Thomas Aquinas b. 1225 d. 1274 c. 1323
(con’t. entry 3)


[101124 1100] In 1245 Thomas Aquinas, immediately upon his familial house arrest, pronounced his vows. Twenty years old. Thomas Aquinas was set free into the world by his parents, his family, and his own pursuit of God’s will. Twenty is young to be certain about your vocation; to be so assertive about cutting familial ties. Thomas Aquinas is an extraordinarily special case: with his gifts and grace and determination. So special that the (Dominican) Pope examined this son of a Count to assure himself that the young man and the ambitious Order of Preachers were on the right path. Before you too jump with both feet into your vocation, consult your own pope. Discernment includes consultative steps all along the way. A spiritual director. Your confessor. A counselor. A person willing and able to penetrate your soul and cipher the will of God to help you see whether you’ve found a match.

John the Teutonic, fourth master general of the Order of Preachers, took the young student to Cologne, where he was placed under Albertus Magnus, the most renowned professor of the order. Don’t you love the names?! John the Teutonic. Doesn’t take much stereotyping to get an idea of this master general’s persona. The Dominicans are noted for their teutonic leadership – within their Order and the Order’s influence within the Church. To each his own. Different people, different situations require different leadership. Find for yourself the right circumstance and the best leader.

Albert the Great, Albertus Magnus. Sounds like a character out of Harry Potter. But not. To whom do you entrust your most gifted student? Your best teacher, of course. Imagine the brain power in the room when these two guys were together – at lessons, over preprandials. In the chapel the Holy Spirit must have had to work overtime to keep up with their need for and use of grace. To whom do you entrust yourself?

It was not a difficult decision to entrust y’all to the Dominicans. An elementary school full of the best teachers and some of Nashville’s best and brightest students. An environment of excellent academics embedded in the faith of our Church. Too bad you didn’t get more of the same in Greensboro. Not a total loss for you – just more responsibility on your own shoulders now to put yourselves into Catholic environments that nurture your faith formation.

In school Thomas Aquinas's humility and taciturnity were misinterpreted as signs of dullness. When Albert Magnus heard his brilliant defense of a difficult thesis, he exclaimed: "We call this young man a dumb ox, but his bellowing in doctrine will one day resound throughout the world." This is a famous scenario in Thomas Aquinas’ life. The ole, you can’t tell a book from its cover. In the faith formation class I’m teaching now, we have a boy who, to look at him, gives the impression of definitely not being with it. But he listens; he absorbs the conversations and teaching that swirl around him. When I ask him a question, he is usually spot on with an answer; often with an insight worth holding on to.

When Albert Magnus was sent to Paris, Thomas Aquinas accompanied him as a student. No university before or sense got a better two fer one deal than this! In your area of expertise, go to study not only where they have the best teachers, but also the best students.

Both shortly returned to Cologne. Albert had been appointed regent of the new studium generale, erected that year by the general chapter of the Order. Thomas Aquinas was to teach under him. Thomas was about twenty five. No doubt he was hot to trot his own stuff. If Thomas Aquinas dutifully and successfully played second fiddle for so long, we should use his decision as a lesson. You can expect to live to be about ninety – Grandpa will; you have the genes for it. Another three or four years as an apprentice or learning from a mentor is not even five percent of your lifetime. Be patient and prudent. Select wisely your teachers. Learn and do and grow in the opportunities studenthood gives you.

Thomas Aquinas was ordained in 1250 by Archbishop Conrad of Hochstaden. Throughout his life, Thomas Aquinas frequently preached the Word of God, in Germany, France, and Italy. His sermons were forceful, redolent of piety, full of solid instruction, abounding in apt citations from the Scriptures. John the Teutonic, Innocent IV, and Albertus Magnus didn’t expect anything less. Of course, Thomas Aquinas preached – he was a Dominican, the Order of Preachers. Even the Dominican priests who don’t give such good homilies are good preachers as their baseline.

To be a superb preacher, you have to be redolent of piety. Holiness, your own closeness with God, is necessary to lift the rest of us up with your voice. Sanctity is independent of brilliance. It is Love lived out in prayer and action. Thomas Aquinas, like the rest of us, was created to know, love, and serve God. Like the rest of us, he continuously received God’s love. We can get caught up in the brilliance of this great saint and lose sight that his life was founded on his vocation which flowed from his love of God, his closeness to the Father. Don’t let Thomas Aquinas’ brilliance scare you away from him. Let his holiness draw you to know him better.

In the year 1251 or 1252, the master general of the Order, by the advice of Albertus Magnus, sent Thomas to fill the office of Bachelor (sub-regent) in the Dominican studium at Paris. His teaching soon attracted the attention both of the professors and of the students. His duties consisted principally in explaining the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard, and his commentaries on that text-book of theology furnished the materials and, in great part, the plan for his chief work, the "Summa Theologica".

It’s a humbling experience to teach. I taught statistics and intro to psych when I was still a graduate student. My first intro to stat class had a graduating senior math major in it to pick up some easy credits he needed in his minor for graduation. The boy, maybe only two years my junior, knew way more math and understood statistics more deeply than I. I supervised clinical psychology graduate students, some older than I and more experienced in the world. I introduced some business students about organizational behavior – several of whom signed up for subsequent seminars on the topic. I taught clinical programming and the business of psychiatry to residents and fellows at Vanderbilt. I introduced nursing grad students to child psychology principles. Being a professor is a gift and a blessing. It is pursuit of truth as well as the expansion of knowledge. It is an effort to delve into the mystery of what we don’t know.

I don’t think I attracted much attention. Certainly nothing remotely like what Thomas Aquinas did. But in my small way, I contributed to some students’ learning and lives; I helped advance the mission of the universities in some small way.

My most rewarding teaching has been CCD. First because it let me have more child contact. Once I became an executive, my journey as a child psychologist ended. My dealings were with the doctors and staff and payers and referral sources. All on behalf of the children but no longer was I in the same room with them. The preparation for my classes, regardless of the grade, took me to the Bible, the Catechism, the Fathers, and our religious literature: not to mention to prayer. That’s why I teach – to learn.

I have volumes of books and class notes and dribs and drabs of articles, manuscripts, and drafts. I don’t anticipate a Summa Theologica from all this. I am chipping away at more articles and short stories/novel(s). Maybe a bill nolan summa will come out the other end. Plenty of time if I live as long as Grandpa did. If not, you get to sift through it all post-humorously.

I love you,
Dad
101124, 1156
Entry 3
(there are 18 more pages on Thomas Aquinas for me to get through before January….)