Fr. Don Goergen, OP - Theology is For Everyone: Insights from Thomas Aquinas, OP

[Music] go ahead jim welcome everybody i'm father jim spock thank you i started saint dominance it's a it's a private a privilege and a an honor to see so many people including the heroes from madison it was a long time ago and um and especially uh father don to join us today for um a little uh reflection on st thomas aquinas now don actually uh taught me i don't know how many it was 40 something years ago um but he holds up he's holding up pretty well actually um i'd like a uh welcome to everybody including um um joseph's parents and we're going to be doing this once a month and you're invited to always come back let's just begin with a little prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen may your name be praised lord our god for by the example and teaching of saint thomas aquinas you have preserved your flock from the darkness of error and have led us your children into the wonderful light of jesus christ may the intercession of saint thomas continue to guide us in truth and love along the path of justice and holiness of life we ask you this in jesus name amen amen thank you jim i'm gonna remove you as a spotlight and then i'm gonna add myself as a spotlight um i would like to uh personally welcome father don um who is uh one second i need to put myself as a spotlight where am i there we go ah here we go sorry boom there i am hi everyone um i want to personally welcome father don gergen um as jim said don has taught many of us uh is currently teaching uh some of us um don was my professor of uh thomas and of christology um i still consider don's four volume series on christology probably one of some of the best uh series on christology for any dominican-hearted uh person out there in our family who might be interested in learning more but don is much more than just a brain his heart his wisdom his approachability um is really a beautiful thing to always have not only as a superior when he was my prior at at the stadium but uh he was provincial for many of the dominicans for a while and now is our number two again father don is in one sense and has an ability to be able to take thomas and apply it to the everyday and we'll be able to see thomas and see the humanness behind thomas when sometimes we might feel that theology and philosophy can be a little bit inaccessible but really it is not and so uh don today is going to be speaking to us a little bit about what thomas has to say to us who might never have studied philosophy or theology or how we might discover our inner theologian and so uh to celebrate our feast of saint thomas aquinas as dominicans and uh i would like to don introduce well thank you all for joining the conversation it's a great privilege to have this opportunity it'd be wonderful if i could be there with each of you in person but then we'd have to multi-locate more than bi-locate anyway as luke has already said we want to take time this evening to just think a little about some of the insights thomas aquinas has to offer us now this year 2021 is a special year because we also celebrate the 800th anniversary of the death of saint dominic who died in august of 1221 and it's during this year then that we also celebrate once again thomas aquinas whose feast is tomorrow so it's very fitting we take some time to simply ask ourselves what does aquinas have to offer now some of you have perhaps read aquinas extensively some of you may have read nothing many of his insights come from a mature work later in his life uh kind of compendium known as the summa the summa of theology somatiologie and it's divided into three parts and i'm going to take this evening and insight from each of those parts and share it with you the summa of theology and luke said earlier sometimes words like theology or philosophy i might think well that's not me but in fact we can all do theology if you will basically theology is just about god and we all have some sense of god some image of god actually theology is how to talk about god chaos the greek word for god logos for speech or understanding or reasoning so how do you talk about god in your lives and the first thing i'd like to emphasize is the notion of god as a presence god as present in fact in the very first part of that summa early on he talks about different ways in which god is present for example first he emphasizes that god is everywhere god is present in all things and in our day and age especially when we are ecologically concerned or we think about creation or the universe even today as expansive as it is evolving over billions of years to be aware that everywhere god is there so in one way another way of putting it i know of a dominican sister who likes to put it this way that the universe is drenched in god it soaks god up wherever you look granted there are places ways actions in which god is not present such as obviously evil sin those kinds of things but in our creation as god intended it to be god was already present to it but then in addition to this being present just everywhere if we look at the botanical garden if we look at the tulips if we look at the giraffe or the rabbits in the yard or wherever there we find god god is especially present in the human person in the human being in you in other words god's distinctive presence in what aquinas would call the rational creature so although the universe is drenched in god we could say that you and i are even more soaked in god and that presence is especially a presence through what we would traditionally call and what aquinas would call grace grace god's presence in us through sanctifying grace which is an intense intimate deep kind of presence beyond just the way in which god might be present in the stars or on the sand by the beach or in whatever it might be that we see living and close at hand that god's presence in you me my neighbor all human creatures especially through our ability to think and our ability to act freely but primarily through this gift of grace which in some ways binds us even more closely a definition for grace is of course as you're aware sharing in the divine life or aquinas likes to define it in many ways is that which makes us pleasing to god it's a gift of god and it makes us pleasing to god but then there's a third kind of presence i mentioned there are three parts to the summa and one can look at it in this way if you wish that in the first part it's a discussion of god's presence in everything in the second part it deals especially with the human person and our moral life and god's presence in us through grace but then in the third part it's about jesus christ and god's very distinctive or unique presence in the humanity of christ which is really the human nature of a divine person and it's that jesus christ that we find perhaps the most full the chief exemplification of god's presence in the world as that word incarnate and god's presence among us as human beings because he chose to become one of us but that very distinctive presence through the incarnation or god's having become human in that way so at this point all i want to emphasize for you is to have and maybe in the back of your minds right now to just picture imagine and see this universe humanity [Music] one in that humanity being jesus of nazareth how drenched in god it all is and in that sense uh i like to say a summary way of maybe putting this which is a helpful way for me and it might be for you too especially in times of difficulty or despondency or when things don't go well or crisis in our lives whatever it might be god governs the universe ultimately at the core of that universe at the core of us is god and we're trying to talk about this mystery that god is that's what theology is so god governs the universe providentially which means with wisdom and love i can think of a time in my life it might have even been a time when i lived with father luke who knows it was a difficult time and it came to me in a kind of coalesced way deep consolation to realize that what i do what happens in the end even in our world today with all the strife the tragedies the pandemic everything to be aware that god governs the universe providentially with wisdom and love it's a source of hope for us now one could say well that sounds good i don't know if god's doing a very good job because look at the things that seem to go awry and so to make that statement in the end is in some ways an act of faith which we'll talk about in a moment faith but it takes faith to believe and to know that god is and that god is present and that ultimately god is in charge of the universe that tells us in an important way that behind what we see that which is visible that which occurs on the surface much of which is extremely significant nevertheless beneath the surface surface there is more that eye has not seen or ears not heard perhaps if you cop stop and think for a moment about when you go to mass the eucharist that what you see and taste tastes like bread or like a host but that's not what it is or it tastes like wine but that's not what it is that's what it might look like but that's not what it is and so we're talking about what is deep at the heart of the universe and what is residing there deep inside of you we could call that in a variety of ways such as the indwelling of the holy spirit it's another way in which god whether we say through sanctifying grace or through the gift of the holy spirit god is in the human creature in a very distinctive and unique way the reality is we live our lives as christian women and men with a profound awareness that there is more to life than what meets the eye and although modern sciences give us tremendous and significant and important knowledge that even their empirical research even with microscopes and telescopes that in the end we as human beings desire to talk about god so i said that to really have confidence consolation in this awareness that it's god who governs the universe and who guides my life and god is present in my life in ways at times beyond my knowledge and beyond my control god is present there through this life of grace but it does take this gift of faith in other words one of the things for aquinas that does accompany that gift of the holy spirit if you will or that life of grace that makes us pleasing to god that is with us as a gift even though we could lose it through significant serious sin that life that we're given is accompanied by what you're familiar with the three theological virtues faith hope and love and of course the greatest of these is love so i'd like now to share a little about this gift of faith a gift also a virtue of faith aware of god's presence everywhere in my neighbor in the poorest of the poor and those who are suffering in those whom i don't like in myself aware of this presence of god i am aware because god has given me this gift of faith now when aquinas talks about faith it's interesting i find it interesting anyway uh he speaks about it in three different ways what do you think faith is if you say you have faith is it any different from belief i believe we think of the creed i believe in god the father almighty aquinas speaks about faith we could use the latin words but we'll just stay with faith as believing believing that there is a god that's the first foundational thing about faith to believe that there is a god not everyone has that gift of faith that offer is given to everyone but we do have to see it as a gift thank god that i believe in god that i believe that there is a god because then the rest of my life can unfold with that awareness but not only is it a question of believing that there is a god but at a second level it's a question of believing god if you believe in a god do you believe that god that is what god has communicated what god has revealed do you believe god in other words the things that the church teaches that god has spoken that god has revealed and that's where we come to what we might think of as the articles of faith but it's possible to believe that there is a god to believe in god and not believe the things or some of the things that god has taught us there might be say in the old testament the commandments well god seems to have revealed those uh i believe in god but i don't know about some of those commandments well it's not that we can just pick and choose that if we really believe in god we are invited to believe god himself but it's also possible to believe all those things how many of us catholics at different times might not recite them i believe in god the father almighty create our friend of jesus christ his only son or lord you know in other words we can go through it yeah oh do you believe i yes i believe all those things but it's a kind of lifeless faith to use an expression again from aquinas it's a kind of lifeless rather than living faith is the expression aquinas would use is my faith really alive and that's the third level it's not just believing in god and believing god but in a way believing from within this loving presence of god within me it's almost more like loving god it's a living faith it comes alive it means something to me even if we think in terms of an interpersonal relationship you know well well i guess i can see on the screen up there in the corner luke is there jim spahn is there peggy martin is there dave wright is there there you saw i yeah i know that they are uh i might even believe some of the things father luke said about me earlier uh you know so i might believe him i i know him as a good and holy man so i trust and believe what he says but in an interpersonal relationship there's a shift also from saying you know i know you do i love you and the living faith as aquinas speaks about it he would say it's faith informed or formed by charity or by love so i think that's important for us so it's one thing to say i believe in god and that we're not atheists we we believe in a personal god who loves us and this god is present in the universe and among us and with us even through christ and through the sacraments of very distinctive presence christ and the sacraments but that uh that we believe with a loving heart that this awareness of god's presence stirs something within us so we reach out and embrace god in a in a life-giving way a way that really can transform and change our lives that's ultimately why the gift of grace is there why that gift of the holy spirit is there to kind of transform me in some ways to living a different kind of life now there is one other thing i'd like to say in this regard that i think it's an interesting thing again that aquinas has to offer much of what i've said you probably already knew it's so much a part of the catholic tradition you might not associate it only with aquinas and of course much of it does come before aquinas it's his unique way of emphasizing god's presence and living faith but also another distinction he makes besides these kind of if you will three kinds or levels of what faith really be he also makes a distinction which i think is important today between what he calls explicit faith and implicit faith in other words what is that evidently there are some things we believe explicitly but is it possible that some people believe those same things but not explicitly like i maybe as a as a catholic or practicing christian but actually is it possible that someone really does believe that god governs the universe providentially that someone believes in divine providence who who's not a practicing or baptized christian this is an important kind of distinction it's interesting aquinas is the one really who introduces it in the course of the history of theology if you will but it made a huge difference a distinction for someone like you may have heard of bartolome las casas and in the 16th century the whole question of how to speak to the indigenous in this world newly discovered by the europeans clearly many saw them as savages you know is without the christian faith but the distinction enabled uh las casas to say that they too may have faith but it's an implicit faith it's not one that's come to the level of consciousness or articulation it's an important insight because it opens the door to our appreciation of what living faith can really be it doesn't always have to be tied so explicitly to i believe this i believe this i believe this it's important for us because it's been revealed and we are baptized it's related to the question that aquinas would have had to face which would have been the teaching at the time and still is can someone be saved can someone come to their eternal destiny which is full union with god and the vision of god can someone come to that eternal life without faith without being baptized a whole realm of other religious traditions and interreligious discussions today enters in the world is far more pluralistic in that way than than might have been even certainly in thomas's time although he would have been of jewish muslim been aware of jewish muslim and others but what he's able to say is that you cannot be saved without faith but that faith might be implicit you can't be saved without baptism but that baptism might not be a baptism of water now that doesn't mean we should diminish the significance of explicit faith a living explicit faith or the sacramental life that's given to us but it's important to realize and this shows how i'd say open-minded aquinas is sometimes people tend to think of aquinas as well stuck in a certain way of putting things rather rigidly and yet even in the course of his life there are many times even in that soma to which i referred he will at times talk about i once taught but now in other words he'll acknowledge changing his mind in something i could give several examples where he explicitly says that he changed his mind on something and so there's a real open-mindedness here as he realizes that that christ has taught us that the primary access to god is through the sacramental life of the church and the living explicit faith but that god's presence to us isn't confined to that it kind of defined defines our life but god does not confine himself to being able to be present to us only through the sacraments or only through explicit faith excuse me and so there's a wideness there in the thought of aquinas that enables us to see that in a way it harkens back i'll use an expression from an early theologian in the second century irenaeus that expresses this aquinas doesn't quote him in this regard but irenaeus once said where the spirit of god is there is the church and where the church is there's the spirit i like that because in a way it it expands our awareness and even today we know pope saint john paul ii in his encyclical on the holy spirit and the vatican council they do teach that there is salvation outside the visible institutional life of the church now to diminish that as i say that's been revealed and that's we see is this most secure and safe access approach to god but uh that god is is wider bigger than those kinds of access that god has given to us the presence of christ the risen christ to us through the sacramental life and and so for us to just be conscious that what irenaeus says where the spirit is where the holy spirit is there is the church in other words there's church outside the church because the spirit is the soul of the church aquinas actually uses more so the expression the holy spirit is the heart of the church it's the heart of the church and where the spirit is there is church and so there's church outside the church if you want and then where the church is there is the spirit there may be some things in the church that aren't church if they are devoid of that life-giving spirit anyway and now all i want to do is try to help us to be aware of the richness in aquinas's way of thinking that uh faith is not a static narrow kind of bottom line basis in terms of which but rather he calls us to a loving living faith that is explicit but even if it's not it doesn't prevent us from sharing in the divine life in other words there can be grace even sanctifying grace for thomas aquinas outside the catholic or the christian world it's possible for a hindu mystic or a muslim imam to be living a life of sanctifying grace even if they want to name it that way they wouldn't be conscious of it in that way but that what's implicit in what they do believe or say or the way they live their life is that clearly they have an implicit awareness of god's loving presence and the call to us to live differently okay let's move from that living faith to that kind of loving relationship uh with god uh maybe before going there to just mention to give a little time to the theological virtue of hope faith hope and love and the greatest of these is love and aquinas talks about all three of these extensively as as father luke would know because i'm sure he studied them assiduously when i had him in class we'll have to actually quiz him later perhaps we could go further back with father spahn but it's been so many years ago he's probably forgotten most of what i taught him but anyway there's an interesting expression i like um that aquinas uses when he talks about hope i'll just mention that and then move on and that is hope hope is leaning on god there was a movie a number of years ago 20 years ago or so about a school out east a rather difficult school that wasn't on the verge of being closed down but needed to get you know it was an inner city type school and the principal eventually got all of the students and faculty and staff they sang this song lean on me i think that was the name of the movie you might remember it if you're my age you might remember it lean on me but hope is leaning on god what you could see is that theology which is all about god and how we talk about god that that this theology tells us about god as really present not distant in all of creation and in the human being and especially in jesus christ in the humanity of christ and that real presence there in the eucharistic presence it's all about god but it's about god in relationship to us god's presence among us within us for us but that then this presence within us leads us to a life of loving explicit faith a living hope where we lean on that god we believe in god and we trust god even when things don't go my way i know that god governs the universe providentially but then it comes to that the culmination it's true as saint paul said the greatest of these is love and that's true in the christian tradition and therefore for aquinas there is no virtue more significant than karitas charity love whatever translation we might wish to use in other words that's what jesus christ is all about that's what happens when we believe god we learn that god is love and that everything god touches is touched in a loving way and that we with god dwelling within us are invited to love as god loves wow what a challenge that is to love as god loves but what's remarkable here in the second part of the second part of that summa where he talks about charity or love is how he talks about it and what aquinas has to say is uh again a fascinating way of speaking he speaks about charity or love as friendship friendship he asked asks the question very explicitly is love friendship and in the fashion the way the sum is structured he'll say these people say no this one says yes then i say and then he responds to those with whom he might disagree that love basically is friendship in other words basically friendship with god but to just stay with that notion of friendship that uh aquinas will say love isn't only often we speak of it that way as an almost act of the will which is what it is we often think of it as wishing someone good not wishing them harm that again is the a basic level but friendship is more than that it's a mutual interaction a mutual relationship and one that involves communication if you stop and think of this tremendous privilege that god loves you like a friend that we are called to be friends with god and that we are to love god as we love a friend well that can't be can it i mean there is something about friendship that's mutual but a mutuality between among equals so i might and i did love some people would know a pet rabbit that i once had or i might might love the the flowers that someone sent me on a particular day i really love them they they beautify my room or whatever it might be but that's not friendship for aquinas unless it's mutual communicative among equals well there's no way on earth in which you and i could be equals of god we think but then god tells us that ain't soul because i've shared my life with you in that sanctifying grace that gift of the holy spirit and so it's not just that you're human but you've become a grace even we could use the word deified human in other words you're you're more than just this rational free human animal that i've shared with you something that enables you to share friendship with me so that i can say to god i love you as i love a friend and god says i love you too don and that's the bond for which we yearn which is imperfect in this life and only comes to perfection in the life to come now it's not only a question then a friendship with god but aquinas will go on and talk about charity and extensively that just as if you are my friend then there's a way in which your friends become friends to me not necessarily in exactly the same way the same kind of intimacy or whatever but even if i disagree with your friends and i can't understand how you could have that friend whatever brought that about nevertheless to love god is to love god's friends out of love for god and in that sense love of neighbor love of others love of enemies even in other words love is expansive it spreads and in that sense we come to the notion if we wish to go there we won't this evening uh the whole notion of the mystical body of christ christ is the head and we are the members and we are all members of that one body because we are all friends of god it's a biblical expression as well but it's an interesting thing that's highlighted in aquinas that's rather distinctive in aquinas so if we kind of go back to where we started and then shortly bring this toward a close uh when you ponder your yourselves as thinking about theological things you could be inclined to think well i ain't no theologian you may not be a professional academic kind of theologian but if you think about god then you're doing theological stuff that as father luke said earlier in some ways theology is for everyone it's for all of us we don't even have to call it that but we all do want to take time and ponder who is god what does it mean to believe in god and in this aquinas whose feast we celebrate tomorrow is rich with 10 000 insights three of which we shared this evening and so to to be aware that there's much more there the three i wanted to communicate this evening is for us to be aware of this god-drenched universe this creation evolving aquinas wouldn't have seen it in that way but today he would he would be very open change his mind be aware that this expanding creation is drenched with god and in this creation is that that incredible creature the human being with whom god has chosen to share his life and in order to help us in our human predicament because of the history of sin about which we've not spoken god sent into the world his only begotten son to be one of us one with us incarnate emmanuel to be the way the truth and the life but that this presence that this life that opens up for us through this gift of god this gift of grace enables us to live differently than we would have before and it enables us to live a life of virtue the greatest of these are those three theological ones faith preferably for us obviously for us you wouldn't be here this evening if it wasn't explicit in some ways but not just believing in god oh yeah yeah god is not even just the articles of faith belief but to really live that life to so believe in god to so believe god that that love that god stirs within me changes my life so that with hope and times aren't good i'm quite willing needing to lean on god in order that that friendship with god might be made more complete more perfected even already in this life that i might learn to love as god loves and i'm able to love as god loves because god has given me that gift of this holy spirit so i think with that uh luke i'm going to conclude and just kind of end maybe with a brief prayer and then we can come to whatever else but to gather together as we prepare to celebrate the feast of aquinas let us pray in the name of the father and of the son and the holy spirit lord god we give you thanks and praise given the incredible mystery you are lord that you've chosen ways to communicate with our human finite minds so that we might know you love you and turn our lives over to you because we trust you thank you for inviting us into this gift of friendship with you thank you for the gift of friendship that we have with others and continue to empower us to love so that indeed we might be made holy namely pleasing to you and that in spite of our weaknesses and our sinfulness in a history of incredible sin you still find us lovable bless you god thank you lord continue to strengthen us enlighten us and guide us forever and ever amen don you never disappoint i want to thank you um on behalf of the parish on behalf of all of our dominican friends and those who are able to gather with us uh for offering us this not only a word of hope but hopefully the a grace that came through your words to continue to enliven the faith inside of us wherever that faith might be i want to thank everybody who is here who's joined um we're going to stop the recording in just a minute i invite you to stay to be able to have a back and forth question and answer with father tom but for those who are going to move on we want to say that we hope that you have a very blessed feast of saint thomas aquinas we look forward to welcoming you to any further zoom talks that we have in the future our next one is going to be on february 24th at 7 pm mountain time where we're going to be having a representative from christ in the city a an organization here in denver that works specifically indirectly with the homeless and she's going to be talking about the nature of homelessness not only in denver but how to engage the homeless wherever we might be don thank you we invite you to stay and we wish everybody a happy and blessed feast god bless

Channel: St Dominic Catholic Parish of Denver

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Length: 47min 44sec (2864 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 27 2021