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Dear Father Angelo,
Let me first say that your effort definitely brings honor to the glorious Dominican order!
I study theology at the seminar. I admire and I feel inspired by the clear and elegant reasoning that you draw from the theological principles of Saint Thomas Aquinas in order to answer visitors’ questions. Unfortunately, my studies in seminary are not based on the solid foundation of the Thomist school. What I know about Thomism is rather the result of a tough (and certainly not flawless) study as a self-learner. I am painfully aware that what I am studying at the seminar course is nothing but a sick theology. A theology that despises the Scholastica (e.n., the philosophy and theology of St. Thomas Aquinas), that loses itself into futile reasoning but is unable to provide a proper overall view. A theology that never mentions the supernatural, and accuses middle-age theology to be the byproduct of a dark time, which was finally overcome by novel theological methods that revive Patristics (e.n., the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers) especially the Greek one, and Biblical Discoursing. It seems to me that the main goal is to demolish every advancement in our understanding of the Christianism that the Middle Ages had wisely perfected, including the Aristotelian Metaphysics. The absurdity of it is that this novel theology, stripped of its foundation, is forced to draw its essence from modern philosophy, above all, from Existentialism and Personalism. Under these circumstances, studying theology becomes cold, difficult, and time-consuming. It does not increase my love for God, it does not support, nor enlighten, my intellect. It does not help me to find motivation to strengthen my will. For some reason, my spiritual life is still able to slowly progress, but if it does, it does it despite this theology, and not by virtue of it as it should. I am living in a sort of schizophrenic life, like if I am been split into two halves: from one side, I am supported by the faith and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church when it comes to my sacramental life and in prayer; on the other side, but at the Seminary, and especially during an exam, I find myself obliged to carefully select the terms I use, and to verbally express a thought that does not belong to me, which costs me a superhuman and inconclusive effort.
I would like to have your opinion on this problem I am experiencing, and perhaps some encouragement.
Furthermore, I would like to ask you two questions regarding the Dogmatics:
1. In the Sacred Host (e.n., a portion of bread used for Holy Communion in many Christian churches, including Roman Catholic) the substantial presence of the resurrected Christ represents His presence in His entire life (including His passion and death, of which Eucharist is a memorial), does the host still preserve its character of sacrifice, in the strict sense, after Mass or during an adoration for instance? Or is the sacrificial character transitory and limited to the offering of the Mass?
2. If the latter statement is correct, assuming that both sacramental species could be preserved, would the sacrificial character result as permanent as the sacramental one?
I thank you in advance for your answer, dear Father Angelo. I am happy for the love of truth that you show, and for the good that you procure to the souls.
I greet you in the name of Jesus and Mary the Virgin.
My dear brother,
1. I am really sorry for what you are experiencing in the framework of your seminar studies. You described perfectly the situation that you are facing. I have heard similar complaints several times, both from seminarians and from lay people belonging to different dioceses. It makes me sad to know that you, and with you many other students, are compelled to please your professors by saying things that you are not convinced about, so that you can pass the exams with good grades, which is always pleasing and gives satisfaction to their parents.
2. However, what really leaves me in anguish is that theology is nowadays so badly taught. Saint Thomas, the king of theologians, says that theology is an anticipation of that knowledge which we will acquire with the beatific vision: “Sed, quia scientia omnis principaliter pensanda est ex fine, finis autem ultimus istius doctrinae est contemplatio primae veritatis in patria […]” (Thomas Aquinas, Sentences I, Prologus, Quaestio 1, Articulus 3, Response to Quaestiuncula 1). “The ultimate aim of this doctrine is the contemplation of truth before we can rejoice in our homeland”
3. Theology is a form of contemplation, that is, to keep the mind fixed upon God, upon Jesus Christ, inebriated by His wisdom and tenderness.
According to St. Thomas, contemplation is like a foretaste of the beatitude we will experience in the New Jerusalem.
Beatitude is, according to St. Albert Magnus, that state of life where nothing is missing.
4. Obviously, here on Earth we can only experience an imperfect beatitude. However, as St. Thomas teaches us, this experience is the best we can make in our current lives, superior to every form of secular pleasure.
Everybody who is familiar with St. Thomas’ work can perceive the joy in his heart, as well as the eternal and extraordinary union he had with the Lord. For this reason solely he could claim that “faith is like a garment, a permanent inclination of the mind that initiates eternal life within us” (Somma teologica, II-II, 4, 1). In other words, through faith we gain the possession of God and the beatitude of Heaven.
Saint Thomas lived his life according to the Sacred Scripture, “For association with her [e.d. the divine knowledge] involves no bitterness and living with her no grief, but rather joy and gladness” (Book of Wisdom 8:16).
5. For those who study theology, shifting from study to contemplation and from contemplation to study should be a continuous practice. And St. Thomas was not the only one to think so. Alexander of Hales (1245) stated that “the sacred doctrine is called divine -or theology- because it comes from God, it talks about God, and leads to God (Doctrina sacra dicitur divina seu theologia, quia a Deo et de Deo et ductiva ad Deum)” (Alexander of Hales, Summa theologica, t. I, n.2, ad obiecta).
If theology does not lead to God, it lacks something essential. It becomes static and arid erudition, a simple matter of culture. It is no longer that sacred doctrine which leads to God (ductiva ad Deum).
6. Coming to your second question: you ask whether or not the sacrificial character is transitory and limited to the offering of the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
The answer is affirmative.
Although Christ is present as the Immolated Lamb (the Christum Passum) the celebration of the sacrifice terminates with the ending of the Eucharistic Celebration.
7. Pope Pio XII ruled this at the Congress of Pastoral Liturgy, on September 22nd 1956.
Here is what he said:
“Under these conditions, we have to add some highlights regarding the tabernacle (e.n. tabernacle is a fixed, locked box in which the Eucharist, the consecrated communion hosts, is stored as part of the “reserved sacrament” rite). We say: “The Lord is somehow bigger than the altar and the sacrifice”. Thus, we can ask: “Can the tabernacle, where the Lord who descends among his people lives, be superior to the altar or the sacrifice?”. The answer is negative, because it is on the altar where the sacrifice of the Lord is offered. In the tabernacle the sacramentum permanens (permanent sacrament) is realized, however, the altar permanens (permanent altar) is not realized, because the Lord offers Himself in sacrifice exclusively on the altar, and only during the celebration of the Holy Mass, not after it, nor outside of it. Jesus’ presence in the tabernacle lasts for as long as the Eucharistic species last. He is the only, and the same Lord, who is self-immolated on the altar and honored in the tabernacle, from where he spreads his blessings”.
8. If the celebration of the sacrifice continued also in the tabernacle, one may say to have attended at the holy sacrifice of the Mass just by visiting the Blessed Sacrament.
9. With regards to the adoration of Jesus in the sacrament, but outside of the celebration of the Mass, I would like to report you the words that Pope Pio XII pronounced later in the same speech: “The Church has a special consideration for devotional traditions such as the visits to Blessed Sacrament, which is strongly recommended, the Forty Hours Devotion, also called “perpetual adoration”, the Holy Hour, the administration of the eucharist to the sick, the processions of the Blessed Sacrament.
The most enthusiastic and convinced liturgist should understand what the Lord represents to the faithful, be they simple people or cultivated individuals. In fact, the Lord is their advisor, their comforter, their strength, their shelter, their hope in life as well as in death.
Not only will he let believers meet the Lord in the tabernacle, but he will endeavor to attract them more and more toward Him”.
I wish you to be able to put all of this in practice, I remember you to the Lord, I wish you well and bless you.
Father Angelo
Translated by Irene Visciano
Proof edited by Sara Bellei