In honor of the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican theologian whose works dealing with the intersection of faith and reason continue to make important contributions to theology and philosophy today, the University of Notre Dame held a four-day conference in late September, Aquinas at 800: Ad Multos Annos, which drew more than 500 attendees to campus, and enlisted 150 speakers.  Therese Cory, who is the John and Jean Oesterle Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies and the director of the Jacques Maritain Center, helped to organize the event, which was held September 22-25.  September 23, 2024; Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades celebrates Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame in conjunction with “Aquinas at 800,” a conference held on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of St. Thomas Aquinas’ birth. (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame) “Aquinas is one of the most influential Catholic thinkers of all time, and we thought that his birthday was a great opportunity to study the enduring relevance of his thought,” Cory told Today’s Catholic. “The amazing response we received to this conference shows how much his thought remains alive and well today.” Each day of the conference, attendees were invited to join together for Mass at Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart. During the second day of the conference, on Monday, September 23, Bishop Rhoades celebrated Mass, which fell on the feast of St. Padre Pio. In his homily, Bishop Rhoades spoke of the example of holiness each man provided, and he encouraged the congregation to reflect on their own call to holiness.  “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light,” Bishop Rhoades quoted from the day’s Gospel reading. “Jesus gave this brief parable of the lighted lamp placed on a lampstand immediately after giving and explaining the parable of the seed. Clearly, therefore, the lamp, like the seed, is an image of God’s word. Jesus is teaching His disciples that they have been enkindled with the light of the word of God, and they are meant to shine forth this light, not hide it. They are to spread His word, to radiate it by their words and deeds.” September 23, 2024; Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades celebrates Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame in conjunction with “Aquinas at 800,” a conference held on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of St. Thomas Aquinas’ birth. (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame) Bishop Rhoades continued: “Since the disciples are to bring the word of God to others, they must embrace it first within their own hearts. They are to listen to God’s word properly, retain it, and treasure it. One does so, of course, through prayer and meditation, through contemplation.” “It seems appropriate at this Mass with so many Thomistic scholars here for the conference celebrating the 800th anniversary of Saint Thomas’ birth that I quote the Angelic Doctor in this homily,” Bishop Rhoades said. “One of his famous quotes … conveys well the meaning of today’s Gospel. In the Summa, in treating the question of whether a religious order that is devoted to the contemplative life is more excellent than one that is given to the active life, St. Thomas Aquinas writes that ‘as it is better to enlighten than merely to shine, so is it better to give to others the fruits of one’s contemplation than merely to contemplate.’” Bishop Rhoades continued: “Though St. Thomas considered the contemplative life, absolutely speaking, to be more perfect that the active life, he says that a form of active life is more perfect in which, by preaching and teaching, one delivers to others the fruits of his contemplation. After all, he says, this was the life chosen by Christ. This is what Jesus is teaching in today’s Gospel – to place the lighted lamp, the word of God, which we hear, contemplate, and strive to live, on the lampstand to enlighten others.”  Pivoting to examining another great missionary disciple, Bishop Rhoades offered reflections on the life of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio). “Every saint mirrors the truth of the Gospel differently, some very differently,” Bishop Rhoades began. “Aquinas proclaimed the intellectual truth from the lectern. Padre Pio proclaimed mercy and truth in the confessional.”  September 23, 2024; Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades celebrates Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame in conjunction with “Aquinas at 800,” a conference held on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of St. Thomas Aquinas’ birth. (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame) “For more than 50 years, he heard confessions,” Bishop Rhoades continued. “Great crowds of penitents came to him, and he would hear confessions for 10 to 12 hours a day, from morning to night, reconciling sinners to the Lord, bringing God’s light to their souls, the light that overcomes the darkness of sin.”  “Padre Pio also contemplated the word of God,” Bishop Rhoades said. “He was assiduously devoted to prayer. He passed the day and a large part of the night in conversation with God. He would say, ‘In books we seek God, in prayer we find Him.’” Concluding, Bishop Rhoades encouraged the congregation to reflect deeply on their unique call to be missionary disciples. “It is good today to think of our own personal call to holiness,” he said. “How are we, who have received the light of God’s word, spreading that light in our lives? And how are we hearing that word? Do we listen to God’s word properly, retain it, and treasure it? Do we contemplate the word, contemplate Christ, and seek to conform our lives to Him? Do we place the lighted lamp of His word under our bed or put it on a lampstand to spread light in a world where there is so much darkness?” “We are perhaps very different from one another, perhaps as different as Thomas Aquinas and Padre Pio. But we profess the same truth of Christ and are called to spread His light. May they intercede for us that we may place our lighted lamps on the lampstand which is the Church so that those who enter our lives may see in us the light of Christ!” Cory told Today’s Catholic that she “loved how Bishop Rhoades was able to put Thomas Aquinas, our birthday honoree, in conversation with Padre Pio, the saint for the day. As he beautifully expressed, although St. Thomas and St. Pio were such dramatically different personalities with such different spheres of activity … they both carried out the Gospel call to ‘put your light on a lampstand,’ shedding the same light of truth on the Church they served in such different ways. It was a wonderful way to put the spotlight where Aquinas would have wanted it: on the Truth that he served and that can be expressed in so many paths to holiness in the Church.” The post ND Conference Celebrates the Life of St. Thomas Aquinas appeared first on Today's Catholic.