Fr. Hans' Three Cents

(Because three cents is more than two cents)
 
Greetings! Welcome to the newest bulletin column. In my ongoing education in the ways of priesting, I will now be writing more often for our bulletin. So here goes my first attempt!
 
This weekend we celebrate “The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ”, more commonly called Corpus Christi. This celebration always makes me think of St. Thomas Aquinas, who is best known as a philosopher and theologian. I chose him as my Confirmation Saint, because I wanted a “smart” saint. I have since come to learn that Thomas Aquinas was also a musician and poet, and he composed five great hymns about the Eucharist:
 

1. Panis Angelicus (Bread of Angels)

2. Adoro te Devote (Humbly I adore thee)

3. O Salutaris Hostia (O saving victim)

4. Pange Lingua Gloriosi (Now, my tongue, the mystery telling)

5. Tantum Ergo Sacramentum (Come Adore)

 
Numbers three and five we sing during Exposition, Adoration, and Benediction. Numbers four and five are used at our Holy Thursday celebration of the Lord’s Supper, as we process with the Eucharist after mass to the Altar of Repose. “ Adoro te Devote” is thought to be a personal devotional prayer for Thomas Aquinas,
reflecting his personal relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. I personally find Verse 2 helpful for my faith:
 

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.

 
Seeing, touching, and tasting the Eucharist all indicate there is nothing but bread. But as St. Thomas says, we cannot trust our senses more than we trust the Son of God. Our senses can deceive us; Jesus cannot.
 
Towards the end of his life St. Thomas had a vision of God which led him to say, “Everything I have written seems like straw by comparison with what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” One of the greatest thinkers and writers in history, and it is all as straw. Trusting Jesus’ words and consuming the Eucharist with Faith are far more important than any mere “thinking” and logical deduction.
 

There, my first bulletin article! I hope you enjoyed it. May God bless you all.