Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 28, 2024
Then they came to Capernaum,
and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said,
“Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.
In the days when I taught English to middle schoolers, my eighth graders’ capstone project was a research paper, and one of the key concepts we worked on was authority. Because it was my students’ first foray into research, they had to learn to differentiate between unreliable and reliable sources. In those days, the internet was young, and it was fairly easy to draw those lines. Authority was pretty much black and white.
Often, now, I find myself in the gray area. I read things in the news and wonder if I am getting an unbiased picture. I have discussions with intelligent, able people but mistrust their perspectives—are they merely echoing the latest headlines? When my own knowledge of the topic is inadequate, I move carefully among those who seem knowledgeable but whose reliability I question—who and what are their sources of information, of truth?
The people of Capernaum appear to have had their hunger for authority: Jesus teaches with authority, and they are astonished, amazed—he is not like the scribes they are used to, whose teaching they seem not to trust. Even the healing Jesus performs in the synagogue is remarkable to them for its authority: “He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” The people of Capernaum no longer need to listen to equivocation; they now have “a new teaching with authority.”
That new teaching is my path out of the gray area. All is known to God; God encompasses everything. God’s authority is the place where we can rest. God is our source of truth.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you healed the sick, cast out demons, and cared for the lost and hopeless. Heal us from the damage caused by our sins, and cast out all hatred, jealousy, lust, and wrath from our hearts. And when we have experienced your healing touch, make us ready to serve you joyfully and to share your peace with others. We ask this in your holy name. Amen.
Saint of the Day

St. Thomas Aquinas stands as one of the great giants among both intellectuals and prayerful disciples in the Catholic tradition.
He was born to nobility around 1225 in Aquino, Italy. He had several sisters and was the youngest of four sons. His youngest sister was killed by lightning one night while sleeping in the same room as Thomas. He remained unscathed, but was always afraid of storms during his life—he would often pass them by sitting in a church. He is patron saint against thunderstorms and sudden death.
As a young child, Thomas was educated at the nearby Monte Cassino monastery, whose abbot was a family relative. At the age of thirteen, he was sent to the University of Naples, where he met the Order of Preachers, the order founded by St. Dominic. He joined the community at the age of 19.
His family did not mind his commitment to a religious community—his mother had imagined him one-day becoming abbot of Monte Cassino—but they stridently opposed him joining a community that was so committed to poverty. They kidnapped him and kept him in confinement at home for two years, trying to dissuade him.
His brothers went so far as to hatch a plan to bring into his room a prostitute, to entice him to sin and leave his vocation. Thomas picked up a flaming piece of wood from the hearth and chased her out. During this time, Thomas began to study the Bible and learned much of it by heart. He was not persuaded to leave the Dominicans.
Finally, his family gave up and permitted him to return to his order. He was sent to complete his studies under St. Albert the Great and be ordained a priest at the University of Cologne. His classes there were full of clerics from all over the continent and discussions were lively. Thomas, being new, was humble and reserved, and his peers mistook him for unintelligent. They called him a “dumb ox” because of his hulking size.
That notion was soon dispelled as his intelligence began to shine. His teacher told the class, “We call Brother Thomas ‘the dumb ox,’ but I tell you that he will yet make his lowing heard to the ends of the earth.”

Thomas’ piety and devotion were even greater than his learning and he would spend hours in prayer. It was said that when he celebrated Mass, he would be overcome with emotion and fall into tears, utterly absorbed into the Eucharist. He often said that he learned more at the foot of the cross than he did from books.
Thomas received his doctorate and taught at the University of Paris and traveled in Italy with the pope’s court, preaching. He also began his large body of writing, which included commentaries on Scripture and philosophical works. St. Louis IX held him in great esteem and constantly asked for his advice. The University of Paris asked his opinion about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and his treatise in response was adopted by the universal Church and still informs our understanding today.

His writing was accompanied by devotional ecstasy in which he was enthralled in prayer. On one occasion, his body was lifted into the air and his brothers came in to marvel at the sight. Several times, he beheld Jesus speaking to him from a vision, saying, “You have written well of me, Thomas; what reward would you have?” Thomas would reply, “Nothing but yourself, Lord.”
He was recalled to Naples for his study and teaching, and on the feast of St. Nicholas one year, during Mass, he received a revelation that affected him so greatly that he left his great work, the Summa Theologiae, unfinished. “The end of my labors has come,” he said. “All that I have written appears to be as so much straw after the things that have been revealed to me.”
His greatest intellectual legacy was the way in which he used the thinking of Aristotle to explain God’s revelation and Church teaching, which resulted in a theological system that has served the Church for centuries. His Summa Theologiae, even unfinished, is the fullest body of theological teaching ever written. He was a thinker of enormous influence in the Church and the world, and his contributions ranged from philosophy and theology to prayers for Mass. Several hymns he wrote are still familiar to Catholics today. His prayer for students can be found here on FaithND's prayercard page, where it can be personalized and shared.

At the age of 50, he fell sick from a serious illness and died. He was declared a doctor of the Church after his canonization, a title given to 37 saints who are known for elucidating the faith by their words or example. He is the patron of all universities and schools, and his relics rest in the Basilica reliquary chapel.
He is depicted in several places on campus, including two statues in Alumni Hall—one stands on the outside of the dorm, and the other inside the hall chapel. He is also shown in the stained glass window in the chapel in the Eck Hall of Law.
St. Thomas Aquinas, "Angelic Doctor," patron saint of universities and schools—pray for us!
To learn even more about St. Thomas Aquinas, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.