I am writing this on Father’s Day, but you will receive it a day late. But I have a good excuse as I was on a plane for 12 hours yesterday coming home from Orvieto, Italy, where about 55 of us gathered to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Aquinas and the 750th anniversary of his death.
He spent several fruitful years teaching in Orvieto. It was an important city of 30,000 people in the Middle Ages (today it is 20,000). Popes would come here, both to escape Rome’s hot summers and to be safe from military attacks, since it is on a high hill which is very difficult to assault.
My final talk was on “Hope,” since one of the participants told me the week had brought a lot of hope back to her in the midst of the darkness of our times. Aquinas does that. He is basically an optimist because he sees so directly the beauty and wonder of existence.
I am going to let him speak in the next few daily meditations in his own words, as I tried to do in my morning teachings at Orvieto.
“Art As Meditation” teachers, as is my pedagogy, steered the students to find their voices through body prayer or making haikus, doing movement, circle dancing, or imaging in the afternoons. These are all ways to process rational information via intuition, to arrive at a fuller expression of truth.
Thomas Aquinas is my spiritual father in so many ways. I first met him when I was 15 years old and my parish priest, a Dominican, gave me G.K. Chesterton’s book, The Dumb Ox, and some of Aquinas’s writings. This was in response to philosophical questions raised by my public high school friends who were Protestant, Jewish or agnostic.
And now, at 83 years old, and many books later, I am still learning from Aquinas.
Truth is in such demand these days, as politicians and their kept media run from it so readily. Aquinas says there is no justice and no compassion without truth.
In his Commentary on the Psalms, he cites Proverbs: “Compassion and truth guard a king,” and comments: Through justice subjects are defended. Take justice away, and no one will be secure and happy. Likewise, without compassion, all are fearful and do not love. Among all the things that cause enjoyment concerning the Lord, there are two—namely, compassion and justice.
To be continued.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality, pp. 390f.
See also “The Proper objects of the heart are truth and justice,” in Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 101-108.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: The valley surrounding the walled city of Orvieto, Italy. Photo by Trolvag. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree with Aquinas that Compassion and Justice cause enjoyment to God and the rest of us? Might that be why Eckhart says God is “tickled through and through” by our acts of justice?
Recommended Reading
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him. He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French). He gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way.
“The teaching of Aquinas comes through will a fullness and an insight that has never been present in English before and [with] a vital message for the world today.” ~ Fr. Bede Griffiths (Afterword).
Foreword by Rupert Sheldrake
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
.jpg){kind=link}
6 thoughts on “Happy Father’s Day 2024—One Day Late! Aquinas as Spiritual Father”
“Compassion or Confrontation?”
Do we take a stand on what ‘justice is’ based on our own judgements, whatever they may be? Or do we give a voice and look to empower those that are oppressed? Our mortal minds can be full of judgements and following from that, can imagine and create injustices of every sort. We can keep ourselves busy forever with ‘our self created sword of justice in hand’, but are we truly giving voice and relief to the oppressed? Justice delivered is a by-product of enabling and manifesting compassionate acts, is it not? Without by reason of true compassion, ‘the justice we seek can be an act of waving swords into the wind’ at best, and a deadly confrontation at worst. – BB.
BB — thank you for this thought provoking comment … often I struggle with this concept Justice … is our judicial system a “true” form and function of justice? What is justice actually? Or, is the justice system simply retributive? I appreciate your insight that true justice has more to do with overcoming the injustice that harms others … this is systemic rather than personal acts … even so what are the systemic injustices that lead the person to commit harmful acts …. I believe many people fail to see the spiritual truth behind authentic justice because alack real conversation around this deeply personal and corporate topic ….
Jesus said that the truth would set us free and that everything that is hidden will be laid bare.
Jesus was fighting for justice in the halls of poor when he overturned the money tables in the Temple, challenging the Temple elites who were essentially robbing the Anawim of their land. Like Navalny who fought for the ordinary people of Russia, Jesus was executed. Like Navalny who refused to use violence, Jesus refused to use the sword to save himself.
These words spoken in todays DM, “Art in its many forms is a way of processing rational information through intuition to arrive at a fuller expression of truth” really speaks to my Soul.
The artistic process itself, is a mysterious pathway that brings into harmonious collaboration the sacred masculine and feminine, the nature of the human and the divine, the reality of the commingling of matter and Spirit, the transformative power of the creativity of intentional thought and the expansiveness and diversity of the imagination of intuition… all leading one to arrive at a fuller expression of truth.
Art is a Spiritual Pathway to not only coming to know more fully all the aspects of one’s Soul/Self, but also coming to know more fully the creation of the all and the everything as well as our Creator; whom expresses the truth of Her/His essence and presence within and through all that exists.
God, the Great Spirit is the greatest artist of all, whom manifests vastly unlimited expressions of Him/Herself; that when engaged in relationship with; offer many diverse revelations of truth that leads to the joy of meaningfull and purposefull collaborative co-creativity.
Thank you Matthew for today’s DM review of the direct and indirect influence of Thomas Aquinas on so many past and present important mystics. You’ve inspired me to read his mystical ideas as a Father’s Day present, and your book “The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times” seems like would be a good beginning!
Your DM today is synchronistic with some communication I have received from within my family. It is as if Holy Mother is speaking through you straight into my heart. As a result of divorce, my adult daughters both are struggling to love – each other and their father. He is a pathological liar, sociopath and narcissist of the worst kind.
“I believe there can be no truth or justice or compassion without all three operating together. As a Trinity.”
How can I stand back and watch as this vitriol between my daughters fueled by their respective relationships with their father tears at the fabric of our lives. I can have a relationship with their father even after 60 years of knowing him. My oldest daughter(48) believes it is her duty to hold him accountable for all his lies and manipulations. She constantly attempts to disrupt my younger daughter’s relationship with their father. I have tried to teach both daughters the value of honesty, good character and faith in God. Their father continues to pit one daughter against the other and I am helpless to intervene. I devote time to prayer and meditation to survive through very difficult times. I have a loving, open and honest relationship with both daughters but they are as yet unable to be loving to each other with me.
I would love to have more of your wisdom on how to proceed in this environment of hate.
Thank you,
Kathryn