28 January 1992
Manila, Philippines

My dear Confreres,

I consider it a special grace that by the Providence of God I should have been invited to celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice with you on the feast of one of the world's greatest philosophers and theologians.

There are many aspects of the work of St. Thomas, many sides in his character that could be taken for consideration. When I set about preparing a homily on St. Thomas, I found myself thinking of what the Pope who canonized him said when there was some question of an insufficient number of miracles. "There are as many miracles as there are articles in his works." I have chosen just one, because I think it is fundamental to the appreciation of the man and his work, and because it is something which comes from the source that St. Thomas took to be central in his life, namely, the cross and Him Who hung upon it. The question of balance is something that is important for us. Truth is being presented to us in many fragmentary forms today. We are hearing and reading a great deal these days, perhaps a great deal more than men did in St. Thomas' day, for ours has become an age of great specialization. It is becoming increasingly difficult to see where all fits in. Yet we must try to coordinate it all and press it into the service of Him Who is the true light and to Whom we are to give testimony. In the priesthood we are going to see and hear human nature at its worst very often. We will tend to become pessimistic and discouraged about everything. We will need the balance of the cross to keep us right, the balance of Him Who amid the jeers and taunts of His enemies knew that He was reconciling everything to the Father.

Then there is the balance in our own lives of work and prayer and recreation. Psychologists and psychiatrists are telling the world today that the way one maintains mental health consists largely in the right blending of work and recreation. One of them has spoken about the great cross of love and adoration and work and play, which he considers to be essential for mental health. It is nothing new. St. Thomas taught it all seven hundred years ago--not only taught it but lived it, having learned it from that cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Whom is "our salvation, life and resurrection."

Then there is the balance, too, in our judgments about men and things. "I judge just judgments," said our divine Lord. When we make judgments, we have to remember, like St. Thomas, that there is no error so great that may not have its grain of truth. The balance of the cross will make us respect the opinions of others, and reflect with St. Thomas that, after the Magisterium of the Church, we should think more of what is said than of who it is that said it.

Lastly, there is the balance to be maintained in our estimation of the work that we do, keeping a proper sense of proportion about it. "I have seen such things," St. Thomas said at the end of his life, "that make my work look like a little straw." I somehow think that the vision was not for him the shock that it would have been for a lesser man, for a man not so saintly as St. Thomas. For St. Thomas all through his life had what Chesterton called a sort of huge humility which was like a mountain, or rather like the immense valley which is the mould of a mountain. He had that sense of proportion about his work and his achievements. His friend Reginald told him one day, as they were walking along, that he was going to be made a Cardinal. "No," replied St. Thomas, "I will never hold any great position in the Church or in our Order. I could not serve our Order better in any other state than the one I am in."

St. Paul said of our Divine Lord that He reconciled all things to God through Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross. It was St. Thomas' glory to have reconciled with the grace of Christ all things in himself, first to God, and then set about reconciling others to God. We who share, or will share, in the same priesthood in which St. Thomas shared, must do the same, reconciling all things in ourselves to God, and then reconciling others to God. It is the continuation of the work of the Incarnation. "Star differs from star in glory...." We are not gifted with an intellect such as St. Thomas enjoyed. But at least we can start at the same point that he started from, the foot of the crucifix, referring much more frequently than we do to the crucifix for the solution of the difficulties we may be having in reconciling ourselves to God and His Will. We should look to the crucifix for the strength which we need to continue the writing of our Summa which is our lives as theologians or as priests. St. Thomas has left it on record that he got more wisdom from the foot of the crucifix than from all his books, and that invariably when trying to solve a problem, the solution would come to him at the foot of the crucifix. At the end of his life, it was a figure from a crucifix which spoke to him and said: "Thomas, thou hast written well of Me, what reward wilt thou have? " And his reply was: "None other than Thyself, Lord." That would lead us to think that the cross is really the key to the man and his work.