MEDULLA S. THOMAE AQUITATIS PER OMNES ANNI LITURGICI DIES DISTRBUITA, SEU MEDITATIONES EX OPERIBUS S. THOMAE DEPROMPTAE
Compilation and arrangement by
FR. Z. MÉZARD O. P.
NOTE
All titles with an asterisk contain material that is no longer attributed to Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Ash Wednesday
1. Ash Wednesday: Death “By one man sin entered this world and, by sin, death” (Rom 5:12)
1. If someone, through their own fault, has been deprived of some benefit that was given to them, the deprivation of that benefit will be the penalty for the fault committed. Now, man, from the very first moment of his creation, received from God the benefit of having, as long as his spirit was subject to God, the lower powers of his rational soul subjected to it, and the body subjected to the soul. However, since the spirit of man rejected, through original sin, divine subjection, it resulted that the lower powers no longer submitted themselves entirely to reason, from which came such great rebellion of carnal appetites against it, nor did the body subordinate itself entirely to the soul, which resulted in death and other bodily deficiencies. Now, the life and health of the body consists in being subjected to the soul, as the perfectible to its perfection. Therefore, conversely, death, disease, and all the miseries of the body result from the lack of subjection of the body to the soul. Hence, it is clear that just as the rebellion of the carnal appetite against the spirit is the penalty for the sin of our first parents, so too is death and all the miseries of the body.
2. The rational soul is, by essence, immortal. Therefore, death is not natural to man concerning his soul. As for the body of man, since it is composed of opposing elements, corruptibility necessarily follows from it. And, in this regard, death is natural to man. Now, God, the creator of man, is omnipotent. Therefore, by His benefit, He freed man, from the very first moment of his creation, from the necessity of dying, resulting from the matter that constituted him. However, this benefit was lost by our first parents through sin. Thus, death is natural by the condition of matter; and it is penal by the loss of the divine benefit that preserved him from it.
IIa IIae, q. CLXIV, a. 1
3. Original and actual sin are removed by Christ, that is, by the very one through whom the bodily miseries are also removed, according to what the Apostle says: “He will give life to your mortal bodies, through His Spirit that dwells in you.” But both things will be realized in due time, according to the order of divine wisdom. For we are to reach the immortality and impassibility of glory, begun in Christ, who acquired it for us, after we have participated in sufferings during life. Therefore, it is necessary that, in accordance with Christ, His passibility endures in our bodies, so that we may merit the impassibility of glory.
Ia IIae, q. LXXXV, a. V, ad 2um.
(P. D. Mézard, O. P., Meditationes ex Operibus S. Thomae.)
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