Today is the Ordinary calendar feast of one of the Dominican Order's greatest glories, St. Thomas Aquinas. There is absolutely nothing I can say about him that has not already been better recorded.
Instead, here is list of personal suggestions of things anyone can do to honor the Angelic Doctor on his feast:
- Spend an hour in Eucaristic adoration.
- Read some of the Summa Theologiae (Click here for an online version of the 1947 translation by The Fathers of the English Dominican Province)
- Join the Angelic Warfare Congraternity (A Dominican apostalate under St. Thomas' partronage. Anyone can join!)
- Pray a prayer by St. Thomas or for his intercession
- Sing or listen to a hymn written by St. Thomas:
- Pange Lingua
- Adoro Te Devote
- O Salutaris Hostia
Some prayers by St. Thomas Aquinas
Prayer for Guidance
O creator past all telling,
you have appointed from the treasures of your wisdom
the hierarchies of angels,
disposing them in wondrous order
above the bright heavens,
and have so beautifully set out all parts of the universe.
You we call the true fount of wisdom
and the noble origin of all things.
Be pleased to shed
on the darkness of mind in which I was born,
The twofold beam of your light
and warmth to dispel my ignorance and sin.
You make eloquent the tongues of children.
Then instruct my speech
and touch my lips with graciousness.
Make me keen to understand, quick to learn,
able to remember;
make me delicate to interpret and ready to speak.
Guide my going in and going forward,
lead home my going forth.
You are true God and true man,
and live for ever and ever.
Prayer After Communion
I thank You, Lord, Almighty Father, Everlasting God, for having been pleased, through no merit of mine, but of Your great mercy alone, to feed me, a sinner, and Your unworthy servant, with the precious Body and Blood of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that this Holy Communion may not be for my judgment and condemnation, but for my pardon and salvation. Let this Holy Communion be to me an armor of faith and a shield of good will, a cleansing of all vices, and a rooting out of all evil desires. May it increase love and patience, humility and obedience, and all virtues. May it be a firm defense against the evil designs of all my visible and invisible enemies, a prefect quieting of all the desires of soul and body. May this Holy Communion bring about a perfect union with You, the one true God, and at last enable me to reach eternal bliss when You will call me. I pray that You bring me, a sinner, to the indescribable Feast where You, with Your Son and the Holy Spirit, are to Your saints true light, full blessedness, everlasting joy, and perfect happiness. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
