Catholic Radio Dramas

I shall be satisfied when your glory is seen

From a conference by Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest (c. 1225-1274)

I shall be satisfied when you glory is seen

It is fitting that the end of all our desires, namely eternal life, coincides with the words at the end of the creed, “Life everlasting. Amen.”

The first point about eternal life is that man is united with God. For God himself is the reward and end of all our labors. I am your protector and your supreme reward. This union consists in seeing perfectly: At present we are looking at a confused reflection in a mirror, but then we shall see face to face.

Next it consists in perfect praise, according to the words of the prophet: Joy and happiness will be found in it, thanksgiving and words of praise.

It also consists in the complete satisfaction of desire, for there he blessed will be given more than they wanted or hoped for. The reason is that in this life no one can fulfill his longing, nor can any creature satisfy man’s desire. Only God satisfies, he infinitely exceeds all other pleasures. That is why man can rest in nothing but God. As Augustine says: You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart can find no rest until it rests in you.

Since in their heavenly home the saints will possess God completely, obviously their longing will be satisfied, and their glory will be even greater.

That is why the Lord says: Enter in the joy of your Lord. Augustine adds: The fullness of joy will enter into joy. I shall be satisfied when your glory is seen, and again: He who satisfies your desire with good things.

Whatever is delightful is there in superabundance. If delights are sought, there is supreme and most perfect delight. It is said of God, the supreme good: Boundless delights are in your right hand.

Again, eternal life consists of the joyous community of all the blessed, a community of supreme delight, since everyone will share all that is good with all the blessed. Everyone will love everyone else as himself, and therefore will rejoice in another’s good as in his own. So it follows that the happiness and joy of each grows in proportion to the joy of all.

Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings

Saint Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274) was born in 1225 in the family castle of Rocca Secca near Aquino, Italy. He was the son of Count Landulf of Aquino, a knight and relative of the Emperor and of the King of France, and Theodora. At 5, he was sent to the nearby Benedictine monastery, Monte Cassino for his early education. The abbot there was a kinsman of the Aquino family. At 14 he went to the University of Naples to finish his education studying the arts and sciences. At 19, he joined the Dominicans (Order of Preachers) there in 1244. This move was strongly opposed by his family, whose objection was not that he joined a religious order, but rather because he joined the Dominicans. His mother, Theodora, was quite content that he become a Benedictine and probably saw him destined as the future abbot at Monte Cassino. Theodora herself set out for Naples to persuade her son to return home. The friars, however hurried him off to their convent of Santa Sabina in Rome. When the angry lady followed in pursuit, Thomas was no longer to be found there. The master general of the Dominicans, who was on his way to Bologna, had decided to take Thomas with him, and a little party of friars set out on foot. Theodora sent word to the saint’s elder brothers, who were serving with the emperor’s army in Tuscany, to waylay and capture the fugitive. As Thomas was resting by the roadside near Siena, he was overtaken by his brothers at the head of a troop of soldiers, and after a vain attempt to take his habit from him by force, was brought back and held in confinement at the family castle for two years. During his captivity he studied the Sentences of Peter Lombard, learned a great part of the Bible by heart, and is said to have written a treatise on the fallacies of Aristotle.

Thomas prevailed and rejoined the Order of Preachers in 1245. He studied at Paris for three years, and then, accompanied by Albertus Magnus, attended the new Dominican college at Cologne. Thomas was ordained there 1250-51 and returned to Paris in 1252. Then, as a master of theology, he taught for the next nine years at Naples, Anagni, Orvieto, Rome and Viterbo. During those years he completed his work, Summa contra Gentiles and began his famous work Summa theologiae. He returned to university at Paris in 1269 and three years later was sent as regent to head a new Dominican house of studies at Naples.

Thomas was appointed to attend the General Church Council of Lyons, called to discuss the reunion of the Greek and Latin churches by Pope Gregory X in 1274, but he died on the way to Lyons at the Cistercian abbey of Fossa Nuova near Terracina, Italy on March 7, 1274. He was 49, Thomas was canonized by Pope John XXII in 1323, was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope St. Pius V in 1567, and was named patron of all universities, colleges, and schools in 1880 by Pope Leo XIII, who required all theological students to study his thought. The substance of his work became the accepted basis for modern Catholic theology.

Saint Thomas Aquinas was probably the greatest theological master of all time. His writings were voluminous, characterized by his in-depth analysis of faith, reason, and revealed truth. He demonstrated that truths such as the existence of God, his eternity, his creative power and his attributes and divine providence can be discovered by natural reason alone. His greatest work, the unfinished Summa theologiae, is seen as the greatest exposition of theological thought ever written.

While a man of towering intellect, Aquinas was also a man of great humility and holiness. He experienced visions, ecstasies, and revelations. He left Summa theologiae unfinished because of a revelation he experienced while saying Mass in 1273. He composed the office for the feast of Corpus Christi and wrote hymns still used in Church services, notably Pange lingua, Adoro te devote and others.