Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

St Thomas is one of the greatest doctors of the Church. He was a masterful theologian and philosopher,who wrote an amazing amount of material in these fields.

Thomas was also a poet and hymn writer. He wrote the famous Latin hymns for the Office of the feast of Corpus Christi (Catholic favorites such as Pange Lingua, Tantum Ergo, etc.)

But Thomas was a religious first of all, a humble Dominican friar. He spent his entire religious life carrying out the work of preaching and teaching that St. Dominic started.

Thomas is not a saint because of his intellectual brilliance. He is a saint because he practiced the virtues of faith, hope, and charity to a heroic degree. That's something we can imitate.

It's said that one day Thomas had a mystical vision of Jesus on the cross, who said to him, "You have written well of me, Thomas! What would you like as a reward?"
And Thomas replied, "Only you, Lord, only you!"

That was the secret of his holiness.He didn't seek honors or fame, but to do the will of the Lord in humble obedience and service.

Sr Briege McKenna on the sacraments

I haven't blogged in a while -- due to some computer problems and other things. But now that's fixed.

This interview with Sr Briege McKenna is about her recent book on the power of the sacraments. Sr Briege has such a marvelous way of putting things. I love what she says in the interview about confession. She points out that people today feel a need to unburden themselves, and do it everywhere, even the internet. She says that people have told her their sins countless times, even on airplanes. But -- and here's the key point -- she can't give absolution. Neither can anyone on the internet. Only the priest can in confession.