“Think and pray to progress spiritually”
You sign up for a novena of reflection, inspired by the spirituality of Thomas Aquinas, a great theologian and also a spiritual teacher.
This ninth intends, know God better to love him more. According to the popular saying “no one loves what he does not know”, if we know something better, we can love it more.
For this medieval and Dominican saint, Truth awakens Love. And today, more than learning his thoughts, this saint – Aquinas – can help us think… and pray.
Let us open our minds and our hearts to the teachings of Thomas
Itinerary
Day 1: A spirituality of relationship with God.
Day 2: An open spirituality and in dialogue with reality.
Day 3: An intelligent spirituality, which integrates faith and reason.
Day 4: An embodied and human spirituality.
Day 5: A happy spirituality, or happiness.
Day 6: A theological spirituality.
Day 7: A spirituality of communion.
Day 8: A prayerful and contemplative spirituality.
Day 9: A spirituality of missionary commitment.
Thomas Aquinas has gone down in history as a great theologian, so much so that
“The Church has always proposed Saint Thomas as a teacher of thought and a model of the correct way of doing theology” (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 43).
However, his dimension as a spiritual teacher has not been taken into account…especially, because from the fifteenth century onwards, theology and spirituality did not always walk integrated in the life of the Church. Theologians, when reflecting on faith, became more concerned with the scientific format of their proposals than with the evangelical and testimonial nature of their reflections. In reality, theology is the reflection of the believing experience lived and aroused by the Spirit: theology and spirituality must always go together.
For this reason, Thomas Aquinas is not only a master in thinking about theology, but he is also a master in living theology, in living theologically, according to the Spirit of God. In this novena we will take note of those traits of spirituality that underlie his theological doctrine. We must know that all theological doctrine is a reflection of the whole of Christian Revelation that a believer or group of believers carries out and that, in harmony with the ecclesial Magisterium, contributes a particular perspective of the whole of the Gospel message.
Thus, Thomas, with no other intention than to teach his disciple to think and live for himself, presents his doctrine and his life loaded with values to inspire, thus, his own way of behaving humanely and Christianly, …and this we can well call it: spirituality.
Specifically, what will you receive?
-
A text that, based on the writings of Thomas Aquinas, exposes a feature of his proposal for Spiritual Theology
-
Some questions that can help personalize the theme.
-
A prayer with which the Church asks for the intercession of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Meeting Saint Thomas
Saint Thomas of Aquino born in the castle of Roccaseca (Italy) in the year 1225. At nineteen he enters the Order of Preachers. By indication of Fray Juan Teutónico, Master of the Order, he finished his studies in Paris and Cologne, under the guidance of Fray Alberto Magno. At the age of thirty-two, Thomas Aquinas is master of the chair of theology in Paris.
Writes many works that stand out for their depth, admiring teachers and students for the clarity, distinction, subtlety and truth with which he proceeded in the explanation of so many and so different matters, as can be seen in the four great books he wrote about the Master of Sentences. After Paris, he would teach in Rome and Naples, leaving the Summa Theologica among many other works.
Finally, he died in Fossanova Abbey on March 7, 1274, on his way to the Council of Lyons. He was canonized on July 18, 1323 by John XXII. Saint Pius V, on April 11, 1567, declared him a Doctor of the Church. Leo XIII, on August 4, 1880, proclaimed it patron saint of all Catholic universities and schools.
(Source: https://www.dominicos.org/quienes-somos/grandes-figuras/santos/santo-tomas-de-aquino/).