Happy 750th Birthday-into-Heaven, dear St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelic Doctor, our patron! (with an awesome lecture by Tony Andres)

I think I may have won the prize today for most awkward title, but I wanted to say it all at the outset lest I forget the purpose of this post, which is three-fold, at least.

First (if we take the last first, following Jesus' preference), my husband gave a spectacular talk at Christendom College in January for their St. Thomas Day lecture. My other name (when I'm not Miss Marcel) is Mrs. Tony Andres, and it was with great joy - really, joy beyond description - that I listened, wrapped in awe, to my better, taller, smarter half as he spoke on my confirmation saint, our patron, the man of the hour, St. Thomas Aquinas as Angelic Teacher. Tony asks why St. Thomas is called the Angelic Doctor and explores the question of how St. Thomas might be said to teach like the angels. This means he (Tony) has to say a lot about the angels, just like St. Thomas did! I promise, you'll learn so much, and without even trying! Here is the link, with thanks to so many at Christendom who made this talk and our visit not only possible, but beautiful.

Dr. Tony Andres on St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelic Teacher

My second purpose in writing today is to thank and honor St. Thomas for being such a dear friend and father. Wow! He's changed my life, and not so much because of his teaching (though finally I suppose that's at the heart of it), but because of his friendship. When I was a young girl looking for a confirmation sponsor, he reached down from Heaven and took my hand. I was delighted and took, in return, his "last name" - or so I thought, more or less - as my confirmation name. Later, a dear friend (God rest his funny soul) teased me that I had a city for my confirmation name, but we both knew it was a good thing I had it, because it brought me to Thomas Aquinas College. How wonderful, I thought (and still think), that there is a college named after my confirmation saint!

Just for the record, I now looked up how many colleges are named after St. Thomas, who is, after all, the patron saint of universities and scholars. I can't even recount them all, there are so many! Suffice it to say that the Philippines has 3, Australia has 6 (tying with the U.S.A., unless you count my alma mater's two campuses as two colleges), and our beloved Nigeria has one too!

Okay, so this was overkill for St. Thomas to get me to go to his school, because clearly you can't look for a college without stumbling over him, but nonetheless, THANK YOU, dear friend and big brother! Where would I be, if I hadn't found this one? Well, I could be in Sri Lanka, or New Brunswick, or in Lisbon, just to name a few places, but it would have taken longer to meet Tony Andres, and civilize him (the job God gives all women regarding their men, I think), and then who would have told us about Thomas Aquinas, Angelic Teacher? Or if we take the bright and cheery view and figure we would have found each other eventually, for true love conquers all, we might still ask when would we have heard about Thomas Aquinas, Angelic Teacher? It could have taken forever!

But I'm getting a little sidetracked, as Miss Marcel (and Mrs. Tony Andres) tend to do . . .

So my third purpose in writing today is to alert the media, or at least you, dear reader, that it is not only the 750th anniversary of St. Thomas' going home to Jesus - where does the time go, we might ask! - but this means we are in the middle of his jubilee, proclaimed by our Holy Father in benificent response to the prayers and petitions of the Dominican Order. And this is no little, tiny jubilee, but like that of St. Therese, it's in triplicate!

For St. Therese we had, last year in 2023, a jubilee for the 150th anniversary of her birth and the 100th anniversary of her beatification, while next year in 2025 we'll celebrate the 100th year of her canonization.

For St. Thomas, his dates fall nicely into three calendar years, and so we are happy to announce that his jubilee spans all three years! It began last year on January 28, 2023 and the first big date celebrated was July 18, the 700th anniversary of his canonization. Today, March 7, 2024, is the 750th anniversary of his entrance into eternal life, and next year the Jubilee will conclude on January 28, the 800th anniversary of his birth.

Pope Francis released a letter (in Latin!) to celebrate the Jubilee, but even more thrilling, he granted a plenary indulgence available to all the faithful! I was going to describe the terms and conditions (price is absolutely free!), but I suddenly realized that one of the perks of being Miss Marcel is that I can redeem the internet (with the help of the angels) and copy and paste whatever we need so you get all the facts straight without my helpful obfuscation. Here, then, is the decree on the plenary indulgence available for St. Thomas' jubilee:

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The Apostolic Penitentiary, with the intention of heightening the devotion of the faithful and for the salvation of their souls, by virtue of the powers conferred upon it in a very special way by Francis, Pope by divine providence from our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, considering the prayers recently addressed to it by the Reverend Gerard Timoner III, Master General of the Order of Friars Preachers, on the occasion of the solemn celebrations in honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas, which will take place between 28 January 2023 and 28 January 2025, the Apostolic Penitentiary, therefore, drawing on the heavenly treasures of the Church, willingly grants a plenary indulgence, which the truly penitent and charitable faithful can enjoy under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff), and which can be applied by way of suffrage also to the souls of the faithful departed still in purgatory, wherever they make a pilgrimage to a holy place connected with the Order of Friars Preachers, and there devoutly take part in the jubilee ceremonies, or at least devote a suitable time to pious recollection, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer, the symbol of faith and invocations of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
The elderly, the sick and those who are unable to leave their homes for any serious reason will also be able to obtain a plenary indulgence. If, despising all their sins and with the intention of fulfilling the three usual conditions as soon as possible, they spiritually join in the Jubilee celebrations in front of an image of St Thomas Aquinas, offering to the merciful God their prayers as well as the sorrows and ills of their lives.
To facilitate access to God’s forgiveness through the power of the keys in pastoral charity, the Penitentiary urges priests of the Order of Friars Preachers to offer themselves with prompt and generous hearts to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to administer Holy Communion often to the sick.
This Decree is valid only for this commemoration of St. Thomas Aquinas, notwithstanding any circumstances to the contrary. Given at Rome, from the Palace of the Apostolic Penitentiary, on 20 January 2023.

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And I think my job is done, so now I get to celebrate with a solemnity! 
God's mercies are infinite, like His love, and among them He has eternally ordained that the chapels of both campuses of my particular Thomas Aquinas College were consecrated on March 7. That makes today a solemnity for us, and although my power is not quite as extensive as the Holy Father's, I'd like to extend to you the invitation to feast with the angels in whatever way you can today, in honor of our friend and patron's jubilee and the joy of all God plans to teach us through his writings.

How about we end (and begin) with this:

"For joy is caused by love, either through the presence of the thing loved, or because the proper good of the thing loved exists and endures in it; and the latter is the case chiefly in the love of benevolence, whereby a man rejoices in the well-being of his friend, though he be absent."

That's from the Summa Theologiae, Question 28, Article 1. 
Isn't it marvelous?

This is what it brings to my mind and heart, especially on this day when, nineteen years ago, I said the Rosary with lots of friends for my best friend who'd gone to Heaven a bit early (in our humble opinion, but just at the perfect time, according to God's wisdom):

When we get to be with those we love, it is so wonderful! JOY! I love it! I have said before and I'll keep saying it, I really wish that instead of the cross, God had chosen JOY as the path to Heaven!

But I guess St. Thomas is telling me that joy and the cross don't have to be at odds, because he says joy is also caused by love when the one loved is absent, but experiencing good. Since by love and in love I want, most of all, the good of the beloved - not just for me, but for the beloved - then even if we are apart, if my dearly beloved has The Good, then I feel joy, even while I may be wiping my own tears away surreptitiously until Jesus finally fulfills His promise and wipes those tears Himself.

So hey! Grab someone you love who is present and give 'em a big hug, a kiss, or a friendly punch in the arm - we've got lots of people around us who are HUGE blessings if the angels will only help us recognize our good fortune. And as for those you love who have gone, along with St. Thomas, to their eternal LIFE and left you stuck in exile, well, let's rejoice that they've made us! Just like St. Thomas did so many years ago for me, they are ready to take us by the hand and lead us on to the amazing miracles that await us, if not at a college named after them, somewhere or other that God has prepared just as lovingly!

Happy Feast, dear St. Thomas! I see St. Therese over there in the mansion right beside yours, and she's struggling with all those roses she's got to shower down. In honor of your eternal joy and in thanks to the Blessed Trinity overflowing with tenderness for us, please give her a hand! 

As to Jesus, the source of all our joy, we can only repeat:

​Draw me, we will run!