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Gospel: Matthew 23: 8-12
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples:
“Do not be called ‘Rabbi.’
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called ‘Master’;
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Perhaps the two most influential thinkers in the history of the Catholic Church are Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas, who lived 800 years apart.
Saint Augustine lived in northern Africa in the 4th century and is most famous for his memoir, Confessions, in which he documents his storied past, his dramatic conversion, and ultimately his conclusion: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O Lord.”
The Church has preserved these, and over five million other words either written or preached by Augustine, for nearly two-thousand years.
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Similarly, Saint Thomas Aquinas, whose feast day we celebrate today, was a prolific writer who built upon the writings of Augustine. Incredibly, Thomas wrote more than 100,000 pages of philosophy and theology. His depth and clarity of thought remain unmatched.
Yet, one day while celebrating Mass, Thomas received a vision of heaven that affected him so deeply that he never wrote another word.
“The end of my labors has come,” he said. “All that I have written appears to be as so much straw after the things that have been revealed to me.”
Three months later, Thomas died peacefully.
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What can the life and example of these towering Saints say to us today?
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First, make every effort to know, follow, and love Jesus Christ. We will remain restless and unsatisfied until we do.
Secondly, there is no sacrifice we can make for God that outweighs our heavenly reward. Even the compendium of Thomas Aquinas – 100,000 pages of the best writing the Church has ever known – is, in his words, straw compared to the beauty of God.
So, how might we satisfy our restlessness by growing closer to the Lord today?
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Image credits: (1) Dominicana Journal (2) The Gospel Coalition (3) AZ Quotes