The angelic doctor

 

Over the course of the last 10 months and as part of the Bread for the Journey blog series I have drawn on St Thomas Aquinas on many occasions [for example in The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist #1]. The feast of this great saint occurs on 28 January and deserves a short blog in its own right today. Much of our theological thinking has been shaped by his work especially in regards to the Eucharist.

The saint was a 13^th Century Italian Dominican friar, priest, theologian and philosopher.  He is associated with a school of thought often referred to as ‘Thomism’.  A proponent of natural theology, he argued that the existence of God could be known through rational reflection on the created world, drawing on both human reason and insights from Aristotelian philosophy. He also emphasised that faith and reason ultimately complement one another since both have their source in God.

Who will celebrate?: celibacy and the Eucharist

It is well known that the age profile of serving Catholic priests is such that a dwindling and often exhausted clergy are serving multiple churches in administrative areas that might have been served by half a dozen priests 50 years ago.  The arrival of missionary priests from other parts of the globe is helping but nowhere at the scale and pace required to replace priests. Those who have retired have not, in many cases, really retired as they are on call on a regular basis. Things we took for granted in the past such as school chaplains, hospital chaplains and availability of weekday masses are becoming increasingly scarce on the ground.

The question of clerical celibacy has been raised as a possible barrier to recovering priestly vocations. Along the question of women’s ordination which I have explored in earlier blogs this year (Women’s ordination – weighing up the arguments ), these ‘hot button’ issues have been the subject of debate in Ireland and elsewhere. The Synodal process has generated much discussion and many questions, but as yet it remains unclear what practical changes, if any, may emerge regarding these matters. 

Eucharist and the courage to speak the truth

In October 1984 Father (now Blessed) Jerzy Popiełuszko was murdered by State agents of the communist regime in Poland some time between his abduction on 19 October and the discovery of his body on 30 October. His only 'crime' was to preach the Gospel, defend human dignity and speak out against the injustices of the communist regime.  His celebration of Mass in Warsaw drew thousands of people seeking strength and solace in the dark years of oppression.  He constantly preached that Christians must ‘overcome evil with good’ (Romans 12:21) - a phrase that became the motto of his ministry. Fr Jerzy imitated the sacrificial love of Christ in his own life. His readiness to suffer harassment, threats and ultimately death rather than abandon the truth reflects a deep love for Jesus Christ summed up in the celebration of the Eucharist.

The gift of the Eucharist in Luke and Acts

The feast of the evangelist, St Luke, would normally be marked today.  He is believed to have authored the Acts of the Apostles as well as the Gospel that bears his name.  His Gospel is distinctive in its emphasis: care for the poor and outcasts, women, prayer and the Holy Spirit. The parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are unique to this Gospel. In common with two other Gospels (the ‘Synoptics’), we have an account of how the Eucharist was instituted in chapter 22 (14-20):

Religion and politics

Source: Crossings

Sunday 18 October 2026

Lectio Divina:*

Isaiah 45:1-6 Psalm 96 (95) 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 Matthew 22:15-21

(See also Mark 12:13-17 and Luke 20:20-26)

 

Meditatio:

“When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away” (Matthew 22:22)

Commentary:

Passages of Scripture, especially from the Gospels, that deal with poverty, wealth, taxes or politics are often ‘spiritualised’ or ‘individualised’ in order to avoid controversy. By spiritualising, I mean turning a challenging Gospel encounter into a simple moral tale. By individualising, I mean reducing it to a question of my personal behaviour and private relationship with God.

Of course, personal conversion matters. We are each accountable for our lives before God. Yet the Gospel is never confined to the private sphere. It speaks to relationships, communities, institutions and societies. Nevertheless, we are frequently told that Jesus was not interested in politics and that religion and politics should never meet.

I protest. Let me explain.

What early Christians believed about the Eucharist

St Ignatius of Antioch belonged to the generation of Christians that  emerged towards the end of the first century immediately after the apostles. He was a friend of St Polycarp who, according to tradition, was a disciple of the evangelist, St John. We are very close to the historical person of Jesus and the very first apostles. We should read Ignatius with this context in mind.

As bishop of Antioch, he wrote a number of important letters to Christians in other parts of the very early Christian world.  Some of these were written on his way to martyrdom at the turn of the first century.  He gave clear witness to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist: he referred to the Eucharist as ‘the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ’, and writes of his desire for ‘the bread of God … which is the flesh of Jesus Christ’ and for ‘the drink of God, namely His blood’.  He referred to the Eucharist as the’medicine of immortality’ (Ignatius to the Ephesians 20:2).

Discovering the heart of Jesus in the Eucharist

A few months after King James II and King Wiliam of Orange faced off each other on the banks of the river Boyne in July of 1690, a saintly French nun, St Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), the great apostle of the Sacred Heart, was approaching the end of her earthly pilgrimage. 

For her journey, the Eucharist was the privileged place of encounter with the loving Heart of Christ. It was while she was in prayer before the exposed Blessed Sacrament that she experienced in a special way the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  St Margaret Mary believed that Christ had entrusted her with the mission of spreading devotion to his Sacred Heart throughout the Church. Our Lord also inspired her to promote the practice of the ‘Holy Hour’ -  a period of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in union with Jesus' agony in Gethsemane. This practice remains one of the most important forms of Eucharistic devotion in the Church after the Mass.