Aquinas Sums Up

[poliphilo]

There's a story they tell about St Thomas Aquinas. I don't have a text to hand and I'm probably misremembering but it goes something like this. Late in life he had a direct experience of the Divine. These things are impossible to communicate. If they weren't we'd all be enlightened by word of mouth and the spiritual life would be a doddle- which it isn't.  Anyway that didn't stop the brothers from pestering him to tell them what it was that had happened to him. So he sat in his chair- he was a very large man- and he scowled and he ruminated and finally he nodded towards the massed volumes of the Summa Theologica- his life's work- one of the foundation stones of Western philosophy- and said, "Put it this way, if I'd known then what I know now I wouldn't have bothered." 

Comments

[margaretarts.livejournal.com]

Beauty past telling. "I came to thee late, O Beauty so ancient and new, I came to love thee late." (Augustine)

What's a doddle?

[queen-in-autumn.livejournal.com]

Wonderful story!

[msjann65.livejournal.com]

A great story -- wonder if it's true? It's a bit in sync with the words of Jesus regarding the Law of Israel, in a way. Jesus simplified that which was complicated. I guess in his dotage, Aquinas also felt that he had overstated his case. At any rate, I will make a note of this tale in my regular journal and perhaps use the idea in some future writing.

[msjann65.livejournal.com]

Makes sense!