Title of the work in Latin
MEDULLA S. THOMAE AQUITATIS PER OMNES ANNI LITURGICI DIES DISTRBUITA, SEU MEDITATIONES EX OPERIBUS S. THOMAE DEPROMPTAE
Compilation and organization by
FR. Z. MÉZARD O. P.
NOTE
All titles marked with an asterisk contain material that is no longer attributed to Saint Thomas Aquinas
37. Thursday after the First Sunday of the Passion: The Greatest Sign of Christ's Love
Thursday of the First Week of the Passion
Apparently, the greatest proof of Christ's love for us was His giving His body as food, rather than His suffering for us, since the charity of the Fatherland is more perfect than the charity of the Way. Now, this benefit with which God has graced us, by giving us His body as food, is more akin to the charity of the Fatherland, where we will fully enjoy God, while the Passion to which Christ submitted is more similar to the charity of the Way, where we are exposed to die for Christ. Therefore, the greatest proof of love from Christ would be having given us His body as food, rather than having suffered for us. However, we read in the Gospel (John 15:13): "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."
Solution: Regarding human love, nothing surpasses the love with which we love ourselves; thus, this love is the measure of all love that we feel for others. Now, the characteristic of the love with which we love ourselves is the desire for good for ourselves. Therefore, love for our neighbor will be all the more evident as we prioritize their benefit over the good we desire for ourselves, as stated in Scripture (Proverbs 12:26): "The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray."
Now, a man desires three particular goods for himself: his soul, his body, and external goods.
To endure some loss of external goods for the sake of another is a sign of love.
To suffer bodily for another, in work or aggression, is an even greater sign of love.
However, to abandon one's soul and die for a friend is the ultimate sign of love.
Thus, by suffering and dying for us, Christ gave us the greatest proof of His love. By giving us His own body as food, He did so without any detriment to Himself. The Passion is the greatest proof of God's love. Therefore, the Eucharist is a memorial and figure of Christ's Passion. Now, the truth supersedes the figure, and reality supersedes the memorial.
The production of the body of Christ in the Holy Sacrament is a figure of the love with which God loves us in the Fatherland; but the Passion of Christ pertains to the very love of God, who has taken us from perdition to lead us to Himself. The love of God is no greater in heaven than it is in the present.
Quodl. V, q. III, a. II.
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37. Thursday after the First Sunday of the Passion: The Greatest Sign of Christ's Love
Thursday of the First Week of the Passion
Apparently, the greatest proof of Christ's love for us was His giving His body as food, rather than His suffering for us, since the charity of the Fatherland is more perfect than the charity of the Way. Now, this benefit with which God has graced us, by giving us His body as food, is more akin to the charity of the Fatherland, where we will fully enjoy God, while the Passion to which Christ submitted is more similar to the charity of the Way, where we are exposed to die for Christ. Therefore, the greatest proof of love from Christ would be having given us His body as food, rather than having suffered for us. However, we read in the Gospel (John 15:13): "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."
Solution: Regarding human love, nothing surpasses the love with which we love ourselves; thus, this love is the measure of all love that we feel for others. Now, the characteristic of the love with which we love ourselves is the desire for good for ourselves. Therefore, love for our neighbor will be all the more evident as we prioritize their benefit over the good we desire for ourselves, as stated in Scripture (Proverbs 12:26): "The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray."
Now, a man desires three particular goods for himself: his soul, his body, and external goods.
To endure some loss of external goods for the sake of another is a sign of love.
To suffer bodily for another, in work or aggression, is an even greater sign of love.
However, to abandon one's soul and die for a friend is the ultimate sign of love.
Thus, by suffering and dying for us, Christ gave us the greatest proof of His love. By giving us His own body as food, He did so without any detriment to Himself. The Passion is the greatest proof of God's love. Therefore, the Eucharist is a memorial and figure of Christ's Passion. Now, the truth supersedes the figure, and reality supersedes the memorial.
The production of the body of Christ in the Holy Sacrament is a figure of the love with which God loves us in the Fatherland; but the Passion of Christ pertains to the very love of God, who has taken us from perdition to lead us to Himself. The love of God is no greater in heaven than it is in the present.
Quodl. V, q. III, a. II.
#God #Deus #Isten #Gott #Jesus #Católico #Catholic #Katholik #katholisch #Katolikus #catholique #Faith #Fé #foi #信仰 #Latin #Latim #Gospel #Evangelho #Evangélium #évangile #Dieu #福音 #日本 #カトリック #Bible #Biblestr #Nostr #Grownostr
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36. Wednesday after the First Sunday of the Passion: The Spiritual Tomb*
Wednesday of the First Week of the Passion
The contemplation of heavenly things is represented by the tomb. Thus, concerning the passage of Scripture (Job 3:22): "And they rejoice exceedingly when they find the tomb?", St. Gregory comments: in the contemplation of divine things, the soul, dead to the world, hides itself like a body in the grave and, far from all the turmoil of the age, rests for three days as if by a triple immersion. Those troubled and vexed by the insults of men, upon entering spiritually into the presence of God, no longer feel troubled, according to what the psalmist says (Ps 30:21): "You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man."
Three things are necessary for this spiritual tomb in God: that the soul practices virtues, becomes entirely pure and white, and dies radically to the world. All these conditions are mystically present in the burial of Christ.
1. The first is found in St. Mark (14:8), where it is said that Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus' tomb in advance: the precious nard signifies the virtues that have great worth. Nothing in this life is more precious than the virtues. Therefore, the holy soul that wishes to be anointed in divine contemplation must first and foremost receive the balm through the exercise of virtues. Thus, Job says (5:26): "You shall come to the grave at a ripe old age…" — to which the Glossa adds: of divine contemplation — "...as a sheaf of wheat is gathered in its season." — The Glossa again adds: for the time of action has as its reward eternal contemplation; and it is necessary that the perfect man first exercise his soul in virtues in order to then keep it in the granary of rest.
2. The second is also found in St. Mark (15:40), where it is said that Joseph bought a linen cloth, for the linen is a piece that only becomes white through much labor. Hence, it symbolizes the purity of the soul, which can only be attained through much effort. It is written in the Apocalypse (22:11), "He who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still." St. Paul said to the Romans (6:4): "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life," progressing from good to better, by the righteousness of faith, in hope of glory. Thus, men must guard themselves in the tomb of divine contemplation by the brightness of inner purity. Therefore, concerning what is written (Mt 5:8): "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," St. Jerome said: the Lord, who is pure, is seen by the pure heart.
3. The third is found in St. John (19:39), when it says, "Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds." The hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, with which the dead body is preserved from corruption, signify the perfect mortification of the external senses, by which the soul, dead to the world, remains uncorrupted by vices; according to St. Paul's word (2 Cor 4:16): "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day," meaning that he becomes increasingly pure from vices by the fire of tribulation.
Therefore, the soul of man must, first of all, die to this world with Christ and then, subsequently, be buried with Him, in the secret of contemplation. St. Paul told the Colossians (3:3): "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
From the Humanity of Christ, chapter XLII
(P. D. Mézard, O. P., Meditationes ex Operibus S. Thomae.)
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35. Tuesday after the First Sunday of the Passion: The Tomb of Christ
Tuesday of the First Week of the Passion
"Why do you trouble this woman? For she has done a good work for Me... For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial" (Mt 26:10-12).
It was fitting that Christ be buried.
1. First, to confirm the truth of His death; for no one is placed in a tomb unless it is known that he is truly dead. Therefore, in the Gospel (Mark 15:44-45), it is written that Pilate, before allowing Christ to be buried, sought to ascertain by diligent inquiry whether He was dead.
2. Second, because having risen from the tomb, He gave hope of resurrection, through Him, to those who are buried, according to what is said in the Gospel (John 5:28): "All who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God."
3. Third, for the example of those who, through the death of Christ, died spiritually to sins, in accordance with the Scripture (Ps 30:21): "They are hidden from the trouble of men." Therefore, the Apostle says (Col 3:3): "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Thus, the baptized, who by the death of Christ have died to sins, are as if they are buried with Christ through immersion, according to the Apostle (Romans 6:4): "We were buried with Christ through baptism."
*
Just as the death of Christ efficiently effected our salvation, so did His burial. Therefore, Jerome says: "We rise through the burial of Christ." And what is stated in Scripture (Isaiah 53:9): "And He made His grave with the wicked," the Glossa says: that is, the people who had no piety, He will give them to God the Father, because He won them through His death.
*
Of Christ, Scripture says (Ps 87:6): "He has become a man without help, free among the dead." Now, Our Lord showed that even buried among the dead He was free, by the fact that the inclusion in the tomb could not prevent Him from rising from it through the resurrection.
IIIa q. LI a. 1
(P. D. Mézard, O. P., Meditationes ex Operibus S. Thomae.)
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34. Monday after the First Sunday of the Passion: The Passion of Christ is a remedy against all sins
Monday of the First Week of the Passion
For all the evils that we incur through sin, we find a remedy in the Passion of Christ. We incur five evils through sin:
The first is the very stain of sin. When a man sins, he defiles his soul, because, just as virtue beautifies, sin mars it. It is written in Baruch: "Why are you, O Israel, in the land of your enemies, and are defiled with the dead?" (Bar 3:10).
But the Passion of Christ washed away this stain. Christ, in His Passion, made His blood a bath to wash sinners in: "He washed them from their sins in His blood" (Rev 1:5). In Baptism, the soul is washed in the Blood of Christ, which receives the regenerative power from the Blood of Christ. Therefore, when someone baptized becomes tarnished by sin, he commits an offense against Christ, and his sin is greater than that committed before baptism. It is written in the Letter to the Hebrews: "Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses" (Heb 10:28-29). How much more does he not deserve greater punishments who has trampled the Son of God and considered the blood of the covenant a common thing?
The second evil we incur through sin is becoming an object of God's aversion. Just as the carnal person loves the beauty of the flesh, so God loves spiritual beauty, which is the beauty of the soul. Therefore, when the soul allows itself to be contaminated by the evil of sin, God is offended and hates the sinner. It is written in the Book of Wisdom: "God hates the wicked and his wickedness" (Wis 14:9). But the Passion of Christ removes these things because it satisfied the Father who was offended by sin, which satisfaction could not come from man. The charity and obedience of Christ were greater than the sin and disobedience of the first man.
The third evil is weakness. When a man sins for the first time, he thinks he can abstain from sin afterward. However, the opposite happens: he weakens through the first sin and becomes more inclined to sin. Sin increasingly dominates the man, and he puts himself in such a state that he can no longer rise. It is like someone who has thrown himself into a well. He can only get out by divine power. After man sinned, our nature became weakened, corrupted, and, for that reason, he became more inclined to sin.
But Christ has diminished this weakness and frailty, even if He has not completely eradicated them.
Man was strengthened by the Passion of Christ, and sin, weakened, will no longer dominate him. For this reason, assisted by divine grace, which is conferred through the sacraments whose effectiveness comes from the Passion of Christ, he can strive to emerge from sin. It is written in St. Paul: "Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with" (Rom 6:6). Before the Passion of Christ, there were few without mortal sin. But afterward, many have lived and still live without mortal sin.
The fourth evil is the obligation we have to fulfill the penalty for sin. God's justice requires that sin be punished, and the penalty is measured by the guilt. Since the guilt of sin is infinite, as it goes against the infinite good, God, whose command the sinner has despised, the penalty due for mortal sin is also infinite.
But Christ has delivered us from this penalty through His Passion, taking it upon Himself. St. Peter confirms this: "Who Himself bore our sins (i.e., the penalty of sin) in His own body" (1 Pet 2:24).
The virtue of the Passion of Christ was so abundant that it was sufficient to atone for all the sins of all men, even if they numbered in the millions. This is why one who is baptized is also purified from all sins. It is also for this reason that priests forgive sins. Likewise, the one whose suffering most resembles that of the Passion of Christ obtains greater forgiveness and deserves greater graces.
The fifth evil incurred through sin is that we have become exiled from the kingdom of heaven. It is natural that those who offend the king are obliged to leave the homeland. Man was removed from paradise because of sin: Adam was expelled from paradise immediately after sin, and his gate was locked. But Christ, through His Passion, opened that door and again called the exiles back to the kingdom. When the side of Christ was opened, the door of paradise was also opened; when His Blood was shed, the stain was erased, God was appeased, weakness was removed, the penalty was expiated, and the exiles were summoned to the kingdom. This is why it was said immediately to the thief: "You will be with Me today in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Notice that at that moment it was not said—formerly; nor was it said to anyone else—neither to Adam, nor to Abraham, nor to David; it was said, today, that is, as soon as the door was opened, and the thief asked and received forgiveness. It is written in the Letter to the Hebrews: "Having confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus" (Heb 10:19). Thus, it is clarified how the Passion of Christ was useful as a remedy against sin.
In Symb.
(P. D. Mézard, O. P., Meditationes ex Operibus S. Thomae.)
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