Thomas Aquinas: An Example for a New Generation of Apologists

St. Thomas Aquinas knew that all truth finds its source - and its fulfillment - in the One who is Truth Incarnate, Jesus the Christ. In this way, he was a pioneer of a New Evangelization during the second millennium and a model for our efforts to in the Third.He is truly a model to emulate; and example for a new generation of apologists.

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - In an age when the Catholic Church is calling the faithful to engage in the New Evangelization, we also face a desperate need to approach the culture with a fresh way of presenting the timeless truths of the Christian faith. My mind turns to the amazing witness of Thomas Aquinas.

He is truly a model to emulate; and example for a new generation of apologists.

His story should inspire each of us to find - and then to live - our own specific vocation, in the heart of the Church for the sake of the world. We should also expect that such a task will not be easy. Jesus never promised easy. It will take saints, it always does. God is in the business of making saints. All he asks of us is our willingness to say yes to his invitations and then to persevere in our specific vocation.

Thomas Aquinas is an example of that pattern of life. He lived his life in the Lord by living it in the heart of His Church, for the sake of the world of his own day.

Born of a wealthy family and educated with the finest the Benedictines had to offer, Thomas was seemingly set on a "career path' of sorts with a foregone conclusion. All, including his family, recognized his extraordinary intellectual gifts.

So, when this young man with so much promise decided to take up with mendicants, the Latin word means beggars, those Dominicans who lived on the resources of gifts given by others, he was not greeted with the support of his family.

In fact, they actually kidnapped their son away from this new band of friars who were so suspect among the established Catholics of their age. After a year of trying to dissuade him, they were no match for the young man's resolve to follow the voice of the Lord and pursue his vocation to the Dominican life.

He studied in Paris and Cologne under St. Albert the Great, a philosopher of great reputation. The entirety of Europe was caught up in a major time of intellectual ferment and change. The writings of the ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle had been reintroduced to contemporary Western thought by,, of all sources, the intellectual community of the Islamic world.

Already suspect in most circles - and accused of being "Anti-Christian" - the re-presentation of Aristotle by the Muslim intellectuals made this body of philosophical work even more of a threat to many within the Catholic Church in Thomas' day.

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As he had done in choosing the way of the Dominicans, when so many thought he was to walk a different road, Thomas rejected the contemporary suspicions surrounding the allegedly contradictory nature of Aristotelian thought and orthodox Christianity. Instead he pursued it with all of his natural and supernatural gifts.

He did so because he loved, above all and everyone else, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He loved him so much that he had a deep and intimate relationship with him. Thomas became such a great theologian because he prayed. One of the early monks of the Church, Evagrius of pontus, once wrote, "A theologian is one who prays and one who prays is a theologian."

Thomas knew that all truth finds its source - and its fulfillment - in the One who is Truth Incarnate, Jesus the Christ. In this way, he was a pioneer of a New Evangelization of his own second millennium and a model for our efforts to do the same in the Third. He was not afraid.

Thomas set about re-presenting the fullness of the Truth which is found within the Catholic faith right within the framework of Aristotelian philosophy. In other words, he used a philosophical framework from his own age to present the eternal truths of the ancient but ever new Catholic faith. That is our task as well as we embark upon what is a new missionary age for the Church!

Using his formidable intellect, sincere and profound faith and solid grounding in the Patristic sources, Thomas produced a body of work which is still the theological and philosophical equivalent of the "gold standard" in the West. His 'Summa Theologiae' became the primary theological textbook for seminarians, theologians and ordinands for centuries.

However, Thomas produced more than theology. His poetry and prose inspired some of the greatest liturgical music and piety in the Latin Rite. His holiness has been - and continues to be - the source of countless religious and lay vocations. Holiness is a fruit of an intimate and sustained relationship with the Lord. 

What is needed in our own age are men and women who can, as did Thomas, take the thought of this, the Third Millennium, and use it as the framework for the essential task of building an apologetic for the New Evangelization of this age. These men and women, like Thomas, will live their lives in communion with the Lord because they pray.

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Let us reflect on these words from Thomas as we seek to be faithful to the task of this hour.

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Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what he desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue.

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St. Thomas, please pray that in our hour the Lord would raise up a new generation of apologists who can approach the culture with the wisdom of heaven which you demonstrated in your own hour.

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