The cross exemplifies every virtue

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

Today, January 28th, as our Church celebrates the Memorial of Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor, we are invited to reflect on a passage from the book of Sirach (39: 4-10), entitled “The wisdom of a man who is learned in the Scriptures”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a sermon on the Song of Songs by Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Saint Thomas was born about the year 1225 into the family of the Count of Aquino. He first studied at the Monastery of Monte Casino and later at the University of Naples. Afterwards he joined the Friars Preachers and completed his studies at Paris and Cologne, his instructor being Saint Albert the Great. Becoming himself a teacher, he wrote many learned volumes and was especially renowned for his philosophical and theological studies. Saint Thomas died near Terracina on March 7, 1274, but his memory is honored on January 28, the day his body was transferred to Toulouse in 1369.

He was canonized in 1323 and made a Doctor of the Church in 1567. In 1965, the Second Vatican Council taught that seminarians should learn “under the guidance of Saint Thomas,” to “illuminate the mysteries of salvation as completely as possible.”

The Song of Songs (or Canticle of Canticles) is an exquisite collection of love lyrics, arranged to tell a dramatic tale of mutual desire and courtship. It presents an inspired portrayal of ideal human love, a resounding affirmation of the goodness of human sexuality that is applicable to the sacredness and the depth of married union.

Saint Thomas reads the Song of Songs in an ecclesial tradition of interpretation already firmly established in his day. Exegetes (persons skilled in religious texts) will long debate the original meaning of this poem (or collection of poems): was it a “profane” exaltation of human love or, from the beginning, a symbolic celebration of the love of God for his people? In any case, the Synagogue, if only by integrating the Song into the biblical “canon,” had already oriented in a decisive way the reading of the Song as a celebration of the love between God and his people Israel—the human love of man...

The wedding of Jesus Christ and the Church is, then, the principal subject of the Song. As is appropriate for an epithalamium (a special poem written in honor of marriage), the Song often takes the form of an alternating praise: the lover contemplated by the loving eyes of the beloved, and the beloved whose perfections are surveyed by the passionate eyes of the lover. Saint Thomas uses the verses of the Song that describe the lover to highlight the physical and spiritual perfections of Jesus Christ. The actions and behaviors of the lover are also a prophecy of the mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ.

The Wisdom of Ben Sira derives its title from the author, “Yeshua [Jesus], son of Eleazar, son of Sira”. The title “Sirach” comes from the Greek form of the author’s name. The author, a sage who lived in Jerusalem, was thoroughly imbued with love for the wisdom tradition, and for the law, priesthood, Temple, and divine worship. As a wise and experienced observer of life he addressed himself to his contemporaries with the motive of helping them to maintain religious faith and integrity through study of the books sacred to the Jewish tradition.

The book contains numerous well-crafted maxims, grouped by affinity, and dealing with a variety of subjects such as the individual, the family, and the community in their relations with one another and with God. It treats friendship, education, poverty and wealth, laws, religious worship, and many other matters that reflect the religious and social customs of the time.