sense of the sacred: Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas

While browsing over the bookmarkers that accumulated in my breviary, I found a copy of the holy card for my priestly ordination. It has the prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas which is very dear to me:

Lord,
give me a heart so watchful that no vain thought can distract it from you,
a noble heart that no unworthy passion can seduce,
an upright heart that no evil intention may contaminate,
a sturdy heart that is not crushed by tribulation,
a free heart that does not let itself be overcome by troubled passion.

Grant me
an understanding that knows you,
a love that seeks you,
a wisdom that finds you,
conversation that pleases you, perseverance that waits for you with confidence,
and hope that will finally embrace you. (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Happy Feast day!

1 comment:

Ms. ZerrudoJanuary 30, 2015 at 5:42 PM
Hi Fr. Jojo,i sent you po a private message thru fb,hope you can assist po...thanks a lot
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We ought to get back the dimension of the sacred in the liturgy. The liturgy is not a festivity; it is not a meeting for the purpose of having a good time. It is of no importance that the parish priest has cudgeled his brains to come up with suggestive ideas or imaginative novelties. The liturgy is what makes the Thrice-Holy God present amongst us; it is the burning bush; it is the Alliance of God with man in Jesus Christ, who has died and risen again. The grandeur of the liturgy does not rest upon the fact that it offers an interesting entertainment, but in rendering tangible the Totally Other, whom we are not capable of summoning. He comes because He wills. In other words, the essential in the liturgy is the mystery, which is realized in the common ritual of the Church; all the rest diminishes it. Men experiment with it in lively fashion, and find themselves deceived, when the mystery is transformed into distraction, when the chief actor in the liturgy is not the Living God but the priest or the liturgical director. - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Chile, 1988)

Do we still need sacred space, sacred time, mediating symbols? Yes, we do need them, precisely so that, through the "image," through the sign, we learn to see the openness of heaven. We need them to give us the capacity to know the mystery of God in the pierced heart of the Crucified. - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Spirit of the Liturgy )