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| Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli, downloaded from Wikipedia |
The first lesson is largely biographical. I found the course listening to be the most useful (The Life and Sanctity of St. Thomas Aquinas by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP). One should not miss the importance of prayer for St. Thomas. The reading highlights three characteristics of his prayer: he linked prayer to study, he was devoted to the Eucharist, and he had a devotion to the crucifix.
To that end, here's a prayer by St. Thomas for studying:
Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of my understanding.
Take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, an obscurity of sin and ignorance.
Give me a keen understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally.
Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm.
Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in the completion. I ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Next is the connection of sanctity to wisdom (from the selected reading from D'Arcy): "The belief that interior holiness is essential for wisdom is not exclusively Christian." The negative way of succinctly expressing it: "sin makes you stupid."
St. Thomas was devoted to the Truth (c.f. Jn 14:6 "I am the way, the truth and the life") or the Word of God. D'Arcy gives a story of which "[t]here could be no better summary of his character and life's work":
There is a story told in his Life of how one day before Matins the sacristan saw him in ecstasy before a crucifix. A voice appeared to come from the image, saying: “Thou hast written well of me, Thomas; what recompense wouldst thou for thy labors ?” And St. Thomas answered : “Nothing save thyself, Lord.”
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