SHEER JOY, CONVERSATIONS WITH THOMAS AQUINAS ON CREATION SPIRITUALITY
Matthew Fox
Foreword by Rupert Sheldrake, Afterword by Bede Griffiths
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"The exterior acts of virtue proceed from interior choice." Thomas Aquinas, In Ethics II, L. 5, p. 136
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"God's power is in every natural thing, since God is in all things by the divine essence, presence, and power." Thomas Aquinas, DP, q. 3, a. 7
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"There is nothing that the human mind cannot understand potentially. It is capable of knowing all things. The greatness of the human person consists in this: that it is capable of the universe (capax universi)….capable of grasping the whole of being. We are also capable of embracing the whole of being." Thomas Aquinas, CG III
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"We choose our lives, we make them, we cocreate them, we give birth to them by the 'inward' choices we make." Matthew Fox
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"God has produced a work in which the likeness of God is clearly reflected – that is, the world itself." Thomas Aquinas, In Jn 1.10, n. 136
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"God brings a healing peace to us whether we live in joy or in sorrow." Matthew Fox
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"The final end of all things is the divine goodness, toward which as toward a goal all journeys and particular ends toward which things are naturally inclined are ordered." Thomas Aquinas, DDN, n. 858, pp. 321-322
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"A certain circulation appears in love because it is from good and toward good and that circling agrees with the divine eternity of love, since circular motion alone can be perpetual." Thomas Aquinas, DDN, n. 450, p. 148
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"The principal inclination of each part is toward common action conducive to the good of the whole." Thomas Aquinas, 'Summa Theologica', q. 26, a. 3
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"God wills that human beings exist for the sake of the perfection of the universe." Thomas Aquinas, 'Commentary on the Letter to the Ephesians', 1.6a
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"When we are drawn to the sweetness, beauty, and goodness of creatures, how boldly we ought to be borne away to the One in whom all these little streams commingle and course!" Thomas Aquinas, 'Summa contra Gentiles', ch. 2, n. 4
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"God is known through the knowledge we have, since whatever falls into our knowing, we receive as brought from God." Thomas Aquinas, DDN, n. 731, p. 274
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"Justice preserves the whole universe." Matthew Fox
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| 14 |
"One reaches one's ultimate end by acts of the virtues, for happiness is assigned as a reward for virtue." Thomas Aquinas, 'Summa contra Gentiles', III, ch. 148, n. 5
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"Love…has no limit to its increase, since it is a participation in the infinite love that is the Holy Spirit." Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, q. 24, a. 7
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"The only person who truly has joy is one who lives in love." Thomas Aquinas, DC, 35
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"We gaze at the heavens and the earth, 'Why then, how much greater must the One be who formed them!' (Wisdom 13:4)." Thomas Aquinas, CGII, ch. 2 n. 3
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"God acts in all things from within….God works at the heart of all activity." Thomas Aquinas, ST I, q. 105, a. 5
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| 19 |
"The entire universe is one dominion and realm, governed by one ruler." Thomas Aquinas, In Meta XII, L. 12, p. 925
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| 20 |
"To know God in some fashion is natural for the human intelligence no matter what state it is in." Thomas Aquinas, 'ST II, q. 13, a. 1, ad 1
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| 21 |
"God is most joyful and is therefore supremely conscious." Thomas Aquinas, 'Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics', III, L.11, p. 192, Gilby's translation
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| 22 |
"The saints understand through their experiences how much God loves us." Thomas Aquinas, In Jn 17.23, n. 2250
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| 23 |
"The intellectual soul as comprehending universals has a power extending to the infinite. Since our intellect is infinite in power, so it knows the infinite….Aristotle said that the soul is in a certain sense 'all things'. The human being is called 'a little world' because all creatures of the world are in a way found in the human being…indeed, each intellectual substance is, in a way, all things. For it may comprehend the entirety of being through its intellect." Thomas Aquinas, 'Summa Theologica', 'Summa contra Gentiles'
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"It should be noted that there is a certain hand of divine guidance, as in Wisdom 7: 'We are indeed in God's hand, we ourselves and our words, with all our understanding too, and technical knowledge.'" Thomas Aquinas, In Jer 16, p. 619
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"All things – not only those that have knowledge, but also those without….All things are destined and directed by God to good, and this is done in such a way that in each one is a principle by which it tends of itself to good as if seeking good itself, as if reaching for it of its own accord. For this reason it is said in the Book of Wisdom (8:1) that divine wisdom 'orders all things sweetly' because each one by its own motion tends to that for which it has been divinely destined." Thomas Aquinas, 'On Truth', q. 22, a. 1
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