These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

THURSDAY, WEEK III, ORDINARY TIME—Saint Thomas Aquinas, presbyter & doctor, January 28

The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, 
and still more will be given to you.
(Mk 4:21-25)

I love this saying of Jesus . . . I call it the “apostolic principle of use lots”—lots of mercy, lots of forgiveness, lots of love—so that God will be even more generous with us. Saint Thomas Aquinas, a bit of a rebel in his own time, used “new-found” knowledge (the writings of Aristotle) to help explain the faith. Traditionalists were horrified. But knowledge won out. Unfortunately, those who followed Saint Thomas weren’t quite up to the task that he left for them, and so they just mimicked what Saint Thomas said. Saint Thomas is the patron saint of seminaries. The photo (1977-1978) is of the Four Musketeers in front of Saint Meinrad Seminary, Indiana.