On Prayer and The Contemplative Life | Page 4

quasi novis radiis veritatis illuxit."[7]

In 1253 or 1254 Thomas was, again much against his will, created
Master in Sacred Theology, and the remaining twenty years of his life
were wholly devoted to teaching, studying, and preaching, whether at
Paris or at Naples. Dignities and honours were frequently offered him,
but he succeeded in avoiding them all. He felt that his vocation was to
study and teach. And since his teaching was to be of things Divine, he
felt that he must needs be absorbed in such things, and that his life must
be wholly spent with God. This feature of his life is insisted on by his
biographers: "Men ever saw him of joyful mien, gentle and sweet, not
occupying himself with worldly affairs, but ever given to study, to
reading, to writing, and to prayer for the enlightening of the faithful."[8]
Thus we are told that when Brother Reginald, who had been Blessed
Thomas's companion, returned from Fossa Nuova to Naples after the
Master's death to resume the lectures he had been giving there, he burst
into tears as he stood before the Brethren, and said: "Brothers, I was
forbidden by my Master to reveal during his life the marvels I had seen.
One of those marvels was that his knowledge, which so wondrously
surpassed that of other men, was not due to any human skill, but to the
merits of his prayers. For whenever he would study, or dispute, or read,
or write, or dictate, he would first betake himself to prayer in secret,
and there with many tears would implore light wherewith to search
rightly into the secret things of God. And by the merits of such prayer it
came to pass that, whereas previous to his prayer he had been in doubt
about the subject of his study, he always returned from it illumined.
And when any doubtful point occurred to him before he had had
recourse to prayer, he went to pray, and what had previously been
obscure was then Divinely made clear to him."[9]
Truly characteristic of our Saint are those three petitions he was wont
to make: that he might never learn to love things of earth; that he might
never change his state of life; that God would reveal to him the state of
his brother Reginald, who had been put to death, unjustly, as Thomas
thought, by the Emperor Frederic. All three petitions were granted, two
of them, as he himself told Brother Reginald on his deathbed, by the
Blessed Virgin herself. "She appeared to him," says William of Tocco,
"and assured him regarding his life and his knowledge, promised him,
too, that God would grant him whatsoever he should ask through her

intercession, and told him, moreover, that he would never change his
state of life."[10]
The following story is well known, but is too illustrative of the Saint's
character to be omitted: A dispute had arisen in the University of Paris
regarding the Accidents of the Holy Eucharist, and the Doctors of the
University decided to leave the decision with S. Thomas. The
responsibility was great, but the Saint according to his custom betook
himself to prayer and then wrote his answer to the difficulty. "But since
he would not dare," says William of Tocco, "to expound his opinion in
the Schools before the Masters of the University without first
consulting Him of Whom he was treating and to Whom he had prayed
that he might teach correctly, he came to the altar and there spread out
the pages he had written before Him; then, lifting up his hands to the
Crucifix, he prayed and said: 'O Lord Jesus Christ, Who art most truly
contained in this wondrous Sacrament and Who as Supreme Artificer
ever wondrously workest, I seek to understand Thee in this Sacrament
and to teach truly concerning Thee. Wherefore I humbly pray Thee that
if what I have written spring from Thee, and be true concerning Thee,
then Thou wouldest enable me to declare it and clearly expound it. But
if I have written ought which is not in harmony with Thy Faith and
which accords not with the Mysteries of this Sacrament, then I pray
Thee that nought may proceed from my mouth which deviates from the
Catholic Faith.' Then those who watched saw on a sudden Christ
standing before the Saint and on the paper he had written, and they
heard Him say: 'Well hast thou written of Me in this Sacrament of My
Body, and well and truly hast thou answered the question put to thee, as
far, that is, as it can be understood by man in this life, or expressed in
human words.'"[11]
And it was ever the same throughout his life: in God he sought God.
Hence his incessant meditation on