/lit/ - Literature

>>19530220
He saw that Christianity is a life-giving act, a mode of being, that dwarfs any philosophical speculations.

>>19530242
Jesus did not espouse deep philosophy. Jesus as God knew all philosophical answers, yet His time on Earth was not as a philosopher. God did not present Himself as theory but as a lived practice. God's Revelation to humanity is in Life itself, not in any compartmentalization such as philosophy, theology, history, social justice etc. This is why certain physical facts such as Jesus' wounds take on a superabundant meaning that is Above any purely philosophical or theological explanation. The wounds of Jesus are Holy and Sacred and meditating on them grants the soul some form of experience that is not possible by purely philosophical knowledge or philosophical intuition. That is not to say philosophy or theology are not valuable, they are very important, but they do not reach the full meaning of Jesus qua Jesus, as God's Revelation as God's Revelation, they are lesser in that respect.

>>19530263
>The wounds of Jesus are Holy and Sacred and meditating on them grants the soul some form of experience that is not possible by purely philosophical knowledge or philosophical intuition.

have absolutely found this to be true in my experience. intensely focusing on & adoring the crucifix in silence has produced some of the most profound spiritual moments in my life

>>19530263
In that respect, the comment of "straw" I can only imagine means the vast gap between whatever mystical experience happened to Aquinas and his work as a body of philosophy and theology. He did not probably mean that his work was bad, merely that it cannot reach the heights of the authentically Divine. In relation to that, it is like straw, even if God was well-pleased about Aquinas' writings of Him.

Yes, but people do not believe me. God appaeared as a woman and said that there is a self repeating eternal joke where humanity all the people act and think in a loop and the punchline always ends up being that they are conscious

>>19530220
Reminder that Aquinas' "great" refutation of the (Orthodox) Greeks was based on several documents which even the Catholic church admits are forgeries.

>It is not surprising to read in the biographies of St. Thomas that he was frequently abstracted and in ecstasy. Towards the end of his life the ecstasies became more frequent. On one occasion, at Naples in 1273, after he had completed his treatise on the Eucharist, three of the brethren saw him lifted in ecstasy, and they heard a voice proceeding from the crucifix on the altar, saying "Thou hast written well of me, Thomas; what reward wilt thou have?"
>Thomas replied, "None other than Thyself, Lord"

>On 6 December, 1273, he laid aside his pen and would write no more. That day he experienced an unusually long ecstasy during Mass; what was revealed to him we can only surmise from his reply to Father Reginald, who urged him to continue his writings: "I can do no more. Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now appears to be of little value".

>Thomas began his immediate preparation for death. Gregory X, having convoked a general council, to open at Lyons on 1 May, 1274, invited St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure to take part in the deliberations, commanding the former to bring to the council his treatise "Contra errores Graecorum" (Against the Errors of the Greeks). He tried to obey, setting out on foot in January, 1274, but strength failed him; he fell to the ground near Terracina, whence he was conducted to the Castle of Maienza, the home of his niece the Countess Francesca Ceccano.

>The end was near; extreme unction was administered. When the Sacred Viaticum was brought into the room he pronounced the following act of faith:

>>If in this world there be any knowledge of this sacrament stronger than that of faith, I wish now to use it in affirming that I firmly believe and know as certain that Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, Son of God and Son of the Virgin Mary, is in this Sacrament . . . I receive Thee, the price of my redemption, for Whose love I have watched, studied, and laboured. Thee have I preached; Thee have I taught. Never have I said anything against Thee: if anything was not well said, that is to be attributed to my ignorance. Neither do I wish to be obstinate in my opinions, but if I have written anything erroneous concerning this sacrament or other matters, I submit all to the judgment and correction of the Holy Roman Church, in whose obedience I now pass from this life.

He died on 7 March, 1274. Numerous miracles attested his sanctity, and he was canonized by John XXII, 18 July, 1323.

>>19531212

>The "Contra Errores Graecorum" clearly refuted the two major dogmatic errors supporting the Byzantine Greco-Slav schism. It would also see the attempt of anti-Papal critics (Protestants, Gallicans, German Old Catholics such as the 19th c. historian Ignaz von Dollinger and such contemporary dissenters as Hans Kung) to discredit St. Thomas's vigorous exposition of Papal Primacy as necessary to the visible hierarchical nature of the earthly Church. The Saint was accused of acquiescing to the Libellus' use of spurious, forged, or simply uncritically accepted texts (by Nicholas of Cotrone).

>The truth is that St. Thomas' thought concerning the visible Unity of the Church was firmly and primarily grounded in the Petrine texts of Scripture. There were spurious or mistaken patristic texts in the works of the Fathers of the Church as well as in the writings of later theologians; it should be understood that such texts were often accepted in good faith because they raised little suspicion when reflecting the actual and continuous belief of the Church! Moreover, spurious texts unfortunately reproduced in the "Contra Errores Graecorum" are easily replaced by authentic ones.
http://www.jameslikoudispage.com/Saints/tadepapa.htm

The matter is bruited here:
https://forums.avemariaradio.net/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=138638

It appears that spurious texts were used by both East and West, albeit not in bad faith.

That he wrote all of it and still Yahweh wouldn't talk to him. The "miracles" where he'd float through the monastery chanting in the angelic language and glowing were invented centuries after his death to justify his sainthood.

If God is so great how come life sucks

>>19531659
because read Job

What does it mean for an experience to “mystical”? I’ve had experiences I would describe as supernatural, but I’m not sure about mystical.

>>19531695
>I created the world so shut up and love me

Wow.

>>19531753
you read it pretty fast

>>19531716