St Thomas Aquinas: Slow to Speak

 

Today in the book In Caelo et in Terra, we read about a wonderful ox of a man named St Thomas Aquinas. You can read more about him here. But if you REALLY want to read about him, I highly recommend the biography that G.K. Chesterton wrote about him. It's delightful.

St Thomas came from a rich family and could have done anything with his life, especially since he was also a genius. God called him to become a Dominican, and against the wishes of his family, that's what he did. 

He then changed the world. His writings, which took the wisdom of Aristotle and infused it into the truth of the gospel, are still heralded today as gems of genius and insight. But toward the end of his life, he had a vision of Jesus - and he said everything he'd ever written was like straw compared to the beauty of that vision. That's what YOU have to look forward to!

But to go back to the title of my blog today - Thomas was called the dumb ox when he was in school because he was so quiet. Now think about that. This man was smarter than any student in his school - and probably smarter than the teachers, too. But he was silent. Listening. Learning. Thinking. That's a great lesson for us today. The smart thing to do in most cases is to listen. When the right moment comes, and you DO speak... it'll be that much wiser for the listening.

God, thanks for the great example of the dumb ox. St Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.