"Several authors, struck by the difference which they find
between the writings of the great mystical theologians (such as Dionysius,
Richard of St. Victor, St. Bonaventure, Tauler, St. John of the Cross) and the
writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, are surprised that we should expect to find in
St. Thomas’ writings the principles of mystical theology. Some even consider
St. Thomas, not a great theologian who from a supernatural point of view used
Aristotle for the defense and explanation of the divine truths of faith, but
rather a philosopher of genius who gave us an interpretation of the Gospel, a
Christian Aristotle, as later on Malebranche was a Christian Plato.
Anyone who accepts
this view must lack an intimate knowledge of the writings of St. Thomas,
especially his treatises on the Trinity, the incarnation, the Holy Eucharist,
grace, the theological virtues, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Certainly such
a person never read St. Thomas’ commentaries on St. Paul, St. John, the Psalms,
and the Canticle of Canticles. He must be ignorant of St. Thomas’ short
treatises on piety, his prayers, his office of the Blessed Sacrament; and he
must be unacquainted with the saint’s life, his nights spent before the
tabernacle, his ecstasies, the eminent gift of contemplation which made him
refer to his Summa as being only
straw in comparison with what he beheld."
-Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Christian Perfection and Contemplation: According to St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John of the Cross
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