St. Thomas Aquinas

We are going to take a pause in our look at the Liturgy of the Eucharist to honor a very important saint who is strongly associated with the Eucharist: St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274). We celebrate his feast day today, January 28.

Previous columns in this space have touched on the feast of Corpus Christi (June 11), transubstantiation (June 18), and the Tantum Ergo (Dec 10 and Dec 17). All of these have a direct connection to St. Thomas.

Thomas Aquinas grew up in the Kingdom of Sicily (now Italy) and eventually joined the Dominican Order. About 200 years before his birth, Berengarius of Tours began teaching that Christ could not possibly be in heaven and in the Blessed Sacrament at the same time, a heresy. This spurred the Church to condemn this teaching, but unfortunately, Eucharistic errors persisted.

To assist in combating such errors, Aquinas wrote a tremendous amount of material on the Catholic faith. His most voluminous work was his last (and one that he actually never completed), the Summa Theologiae. This is a document with a masterful combination of faith and reason that tackles many aspects of Catholicism, especially the Eucharist.

Aquinas stresses that it is faith that causes us to know that bread and wine is changed into Christ’s Body and Blood. He was adamant in helping all understand that the Eucharist is not a mere sign or symbol of Jesus, but actually is Jesus. We receive Jesus completely in the Eucharist, which Aquinas called “the sacrament of love.” The Eucharist is given to us as a great sign of God’s love, and which produces love. Aquinas also called the Eucharist “the bread of angels,” as it brings us closer to God.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us, that we may enter more deeply into the mystery of our Savior’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, so that we may grow in grace and wisdom.

“Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this?” – St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusculum 57.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Contact me at eucharist@stmli.org.