Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

From a conference by Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P., doctor of the Church. From the Office of Reading for the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Why did the Son of God have to suffer for us? There was a great need, and it can be considered in a twofold way: in the first place, as a remedy for sin, and secondly, as an example of how to act.

It is a remedy, for, in the face of all the evils which we incur on account of our sins, we have found relief through the passion of Christ. Yet, it is no less an example, for the passion of Christ completely suffices to fashion our lives. Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what he desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue.

If you seek the example of love: Greater love than this no man has, than to lay down his life for his friends. Such a man was Christ on the cross. And if he gave his life for us, then it should not be difficult to bear whatever hardships arise for his sake.

If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten; he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth. Therefore Christ’s patience on the cross was great. In patience let us run for the prize set before us, looking upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who, for the joy set before him, bore his cross and despised the shame. Continue reading ‘Two Reasons Why Christ Chose to Suffer’ »

St. Thomas Aquinas: Christ’s Passion shows us how much God loves man.

As Good Friday approaches, we are reminded of Christ’s redemptive Passion, death and Resurrection. St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican and the chief theologian of the Church, sheds some light on this great mystery.

Is there any more suitable way of delivering the human race than by Christ’s Passion? This question is asked by the 13^th century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, who gives answers in his Summa Theologica. [1]

We often say without thinking that Our Lord died on the cross to redeem us from our sins. But there is much more to it than that. St. Thomas points out that in Christ’s Passion, “many other things besides deliverance from sin concurred for man’s salvation.”

In the first place, man knows thereby how much God loves him, and is thereby stirred to love Him in return, and herein lies the perfection of human salvation; hence the Apostle says (Romans 5:8): “God commendeth His charity towards us; for when as yet we were sinners . . . Christ died for us.”

St. Thomas also tells us that, “He set us an example of obedience, humility, constancy, justice, and the other virtues displayed in the Passion, which are requisite for man’s salvation.”

There are other reasons pointed out by the angelic doctor:

• Christ suffered for us, “leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps.”
• “Because Christ by His Passion not only delivered man from sin, but also merited justifying grace for him and the glory of bliss.”
• “Because by this man is all the more bound to refrain from sin, according to 1 Corinthians 6:20: ‘You are bought with a great price: glorify and bear God in your body.’”
• “Because it redounded to man’s greater dignity, that as man was overcome and deceived by the devil, so also it should be a man that should overthrow the devil; and as man deserved death, so a man by dying should vanquish death.”

St. Thomas concludes, “Hence it is written (1 Corinthians 15:57): ‘Thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ It was accordingly more fitting that we should be delivered by Christ’s Passion than simply by God’s good will.”