Thomas was born of a noble family in southern Italy, and was educated by the Benedictines. In a normal course of events he would have joined that order and taken up a position suitable to his rank; but he decided to become a Dominican instead. His family were so scandalized by this plan that they kidnapped him and kept him prisoner for over a year; but he was more obstinate than they were, and he had his way at last.

He studied in Paris and in Cologne under the great philosopher St Albert the Great. It was a time of great philosophical ferment. The writings of Aristotle, the greatest philosopher of the ancient world, had been newly rediscovered, and were becoming available to people in the West for the first time in a thousand years. Many feared that Aristotelianism was flatly contradictory to Christianity, and the teaching of Aristotle was banned in many universities at this time. The fact that Aristotle's works were coming to the West from mostly Muslim sources did nothing to help matters.

Into this chaos Thomas brought simple, straightforward sense. He used the Philosopher's many earthly propositions to prove his Theological Arguments that Truth cannot contradict truth: if Aristotle (the great, infallible pagan philosopher) appears to contradict our Christianity (which we know by faith to be true), then either Aristotle is wrong or the contradiction is in fact illusory.

So Thomas studied, and taught, and argued, and eventually the simple, common-sense philosophy that he worked out brought an end to the controversy. Out of his work came many writings on philosophy and theology, including the Summa Theologiae, a standard textbook for many centuries and still an irreplaceable resource today. Out of his depth of learning came, also, the dazzling poetry of the liturgy for Corpus Christi. And out of his sanctity came the day when, celebrating Mass, he had a vision that, he said, made all his writings seem like so much straw; and he wrote no more.

We should pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire us, like St Thomas, to love God with our minds as well as our hearts and souls, and when we come across a fact or a teaching that seems to contradict our faith, not reject it but investigate it for the truth that it contains, where we'll always discover that it never contradicts the truth The Father has revealed through Jesus in the Spirit.

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Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
                "Let us cross to the other side."
                Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
                And other boats were with him.
                A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
                so that it was already filling up.
                Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
                They woke him and said to him,
                "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"
                He woke up,
                rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!"
                The wind ceased and there was great calm.
                Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified?
                Do you not yet have faith?"
                They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
                "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?"

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Source: Universalis (modified)