St. Thomas Aquinas is relevant in today's society due to the impact he has on our education. Firstly, Aquinas helped bring together both science and faith, two concepts that are usually complete opposites of each other. He managed to master and combine them which gives us the knowledge we now have today. Secondly, Aquinas was able to display that we don't need to be extremely depth for people to understand our views of religion. Aquinas joined the Dominicans in giving away fame and wealth to teach people the revelation of God, in today's day we see that happening more and more thanks to his great influences. Lastly, Thomas has helped us to see the big picture of God and what he really is. He does this by focusing on big important facts while also focusing on smaller equally important parts. He focused his preaching on God but also thought of the smaller details that make up heaven and earth. Although many would not think of St. Thomas Aquinas as a major influence, he has helped shape some of our religious views into what they are today.
Learning about my saint can help myself and other people today by trying to aspire to be more like the great man he was. If everyone studied his teachings and tried to be more like him there would be less fights on religion and politics and more advances on more important things. If we do this we will never be separated from good catechism. Learning from him can also help us become closer to each other while creating greater bonds with one another.
I choose St. Thomas Aquinas to do my project on because growing up as a kid I learnt and heard a lot about him in school and church. He's a fairly popular saint who I knew of before. I knew that he was very influential and a good saint. What I didn't know was how influential he really was. People can thank him for many things mainly including everyone's thoughts of both science and faith which he managed to combine together. In addition, I also really respected his ability to preach and gain popularity while not being so absorbed with wealth or material items. Overall, Aquinas was a perfect saint to write about because of factual evidence along with his great role model qualities.
This assignment has taught me that anybody can make an influence in this world regardless of their social or economic status. St. Thomas Aquinas was not a son of a king or a popular actor but here we are, still talking about him after almost a thousand years. This is inspiring and concerning. This assignment has not only taught me that normal people can be life changing, but also that we are potentially ignoring these people while we praise people with no real talents. This assignment has taught me to try to see the inner Thomas Aquinas in everyone.
I have received insight because of this assignment of myself, God, and mankind. I have learned that I should try to act more like Thomas. In order to fulfill my duties as a proper Catholic I have to try my best to see things from his perspective all while being a good human. I can learn from Thomas how money might be nice but gaining proper insight about God and how the earth was created should be more important. Next, I gained insight about God after reading some of his writings. He tells us multiple reasons why God exists and says "Therefore I say this proposition, God exists". Something as simple as saying God exists backed up by multiple facts has led me to believe further in the existence of God. By also combining science he erases all thoughts of doubt by having real evidence. Lastly, I learnt that mankind craves for only one truth when Aquinas says, "Man’s ultimate happiness consists in the contemplation of truth, for this operation is specific to man and is shared with no other animals. Also it is not directed to any other end since the contemplation of truth is sought for its own sake. In addition, in this operation man is united to higher beings (substances) since this is the only human operation that is carried out both by God and by the separate substances". Due to this passage and other writings I have gained knowledge to believe that human happiness depends on the realization of one's natural intelligence.
In conclusion, I have researched and learnt that St. Thomas Aquinas was a very insightful saint whom we can learn much about by studying even in today's time.