Eastern Africa Dominican Friars

St. Thomas composed the Roman Office for the Feast of Corpus Christi.

“The presence of Christ’s true body and blood in the sacrament cannot be detected by sense, nor understanding, but by faith alone, which rests upon Divine authority… It was necessary that the sacrifice of the New Law instituted by Christ could have something more, namely, that it should contain Christ Himself crucified, not merely a signification or figure, but also in very truth. And therefore this sacrament, which contains Christ Himself… is perfective of all the other sacraments…”

 “…this belongs to Christ’s love, out of which for our salvation, He assumed a true body of our nature. And because it is the special feature of friendship to live together with friends… He promises His bodily presence as a reward… Yet meanwhile in our pilgrimage He does not deprive us of His bodily presence but unites us with Himself in this sacrament through the truth of His body and blood. Hence, He says: ‘Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood, abides in Me and I in him’ (Jn 6:57). Hence this sacrament is the sign of supreme charity and the uplifter of our hope, from such familiar union of Christ with us” (3a. 75, 1) [Third part of the Summa Theologiae, question 75, article 1].

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Vol. II trans. English Dominicans (New York: Benzinger Brothers, 1947), 2446.

“So, you see that the bridge is walled and is covered with mercy. And on it is the shop of the garden of holy Church, that keeps and ministers the bread of life and gives the blood to be drunk, in order that the journeying pilgrims, My creatures, being tired, may not faint on the way. And for this My charity has ordered that the blood and body of My only-begotten Son, wholly God and wholly human, may be ministered to you.”

St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, 27.

When Catherine could not receive the Eucharist, she felt intense physical pain. At times, Catherine would beg Raymond of Capua for the Eucharist: “Father, I am hungry, for God’s sake give my soul its food.”

Raymond of Capua, The Life of Catherine of Siena, trans. Conleth Kearns, O.P. (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier Inc., 1980), 291.

Ninth Saturday of the Year “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who will judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it be convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4:1-2). “I, Catherine, servant and slave of the servants of Jesus Christ, write to you in His precious blood with the desire to see you a vessel of love, and with fire, to carry truth, and with burning, to proclaim the truth and to sow the seed of the word of God in every creature, and especially now for the present in our sweet Christ on earth. Up, father and dearest sons, go as poor preachers, carrying with you the riches of the faith and of the hope, with the strength and the bond of charity. Remember that word which gentle First Truth said, ‘I will send you sons, as lambs in the midst of wolves. They will go securely because I will be with them.’ And if human help might fail, divine help will be always with them. O my father and sons, who wishes another delight and comfort? Who will fall into fear? That one who does not trust but not that one who dies with hunger for the honor of God and the salvation of souls. And he will be consumed in the fire of the divine charity, bathed and drowned and consumed in the blood of the slain Lamb.” St. Catherine of Siena, Letter 280 to Raymond of Capua (Her Dominican friend and ally, assigned as her spiritual director) “Preaching is the noblest of all ecclesiastical functions. Our Lord declared this was the purpose of His advent into the world: ‘For this was I sent’ (Lk 4:43). Isaiah, also speaking in the person of Christ, says “He has sent me to preach to the poor’ (Isa 61:1). St. Paul, likewise says: ‘Christ sent me, not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel’ (1 Cor 1:17).” St. Thomas Aquinas, An Apology for the Religious Orders, ed. John Procter, O.P. (St. Louis, Miss: B. Herder, 1902), 219-220. “It is rare to find any who are conversant with the Scriptures. Yet a knowledge of the holy writings is essential to those who would preach the word of God.” St. Thomas Aquinas, An Apology for the Religious Orders, ed. John Procter, O.P. (St. Louis, Miss: B. Herder, 1902), 122.

"From your infancy, you have known the sacred Scriptures, the source of wisdom which through faith in Jesus Christ leads to salvation. All Scripture is inspired of God and is useful for teaching – for reproof, correction and training in holiness so that the man of God may be fully competent and equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:15-17).

"It was necessary for man's salvation that there should be a knowledge revealed by God, besides philosophical science built up by human reason. Firstly, indeed, because man is directed to God, as to an end that surpasses the grasp of his reason: 'The eye has not seen, O God, what things You have prepared for those who wait for You' (Is 66:4). But the end must first be known by men who are to direct their thoughts and actions to the end. Hence it was necessary for the salvation of man that certain truths which exceed human reason should be made known to him by divine revelation. Even as regards those truths about God which human reason could have discovered, it was necessary that man should be taught by divine revelation; because the truth about God, such as reason could discover, would only be known by a few, and that after a long time, and with the admixture of many errors. Whereas man's whole salvation, which is in God, depends upon knowledge of this truth. Therefore, in order that the salvation of men might be brought about more fitly and more surely, it was necessary that they should be taught divine truths by divine revelation. It was therefore necessary that, besides philosophical science built up by reason, there should be a sacred science learned through revelation" (1a.1, 1).

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Vol. I trans. English Dominicans (New York: Benzinger Brothers, 1947), 1.

"All this light is seen in the Old and New Testaments. In the old, I mean, the prophecies of the holy prophets were seen and known by the eye of the understanding with the light infused by grace by Me beyond the natural light. In the New Testament, concerning the evangelical life, with what is it proclaimed to the faithful Christians? With this same light. And because it proceeded from one same light, the new law did not break the old law. Rather it was bound together with it, but it removed the imperfection since it was founded only in fear. The Word, My only-begotten Son, coming with the law of love, fulfilled it, giving the love, lifting the fear of punishment and retaining the holy fear. And so My Truth said to His disciples to show them that He was not a breaker of the law, 'I have not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it."

St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, 85.

Ninth Thursday of the Year

“There are two ways of fulfilling the commandments of the Law. The first regards the action itself, as when a person does works of justice, courage or the other virtues… In our fallen nature, we cannot fulfill all the Divine commandments without healing grace. Secondly, the commandments of the law can be fulfilled, not only in the action itself but in the way or manner in which they are done, that is being done out of charity… We cannot fulfill the commandments of the law in this way without grace. Augustine says … ‘Not only do they know by its light [of grace] what to do, but by its help, they do lovingly what they know’ [De Correptione et Gratia]… We need the help of God’s motion in order to fulfill the commandments” (1a2ae. 109, 5) {First part of the Second Part, question 109, article 5}.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Vol. II trans. English Dominicans (New York: Benzinger Brothers, 1947), 1126.

Here, Thomas follows Augustine’s insistence that God is the One who enables us to observe what He commands by enlightening us and giving us the strength to fulfill His commands not only in the action itself but also in the way that we do it, in love.

“In this blood one knows the fire and the abyss of His charity, through which knowledge the soul comes to love because in another way he would not come to it. For the creature loves his Creator as much as he considers himself to be loved by Him. So all the coldness of our heart does not proceed from any other cause, save that we do not consider how much we are loved by God.”

St. Catherine of Siena, Letter 279.

St. Catherine explains that we grow in love for God as we appreciate how much God loves us, especially in the Passion and death of Jesus.