
PRACTICING wisdom enables the faithful to be the light in the world just like Christ, a Vatican official said during Mass celebrating the Solemnity of St. Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church.
Archbishop Cesare Pagazzi, secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, said in his homily that wisdom, like theology, resembles light not because of its intellectualism but because of its common sense.
“The wise person is the most fortunate, because he or she knows how to do, knows what to do, and carries out the right action in all circumstances,” he said.
The Italian prelate pointed to the theology of St. Thomas, who is regarded as one of the greatest theologians of all time, as a symbol of wisdom resembling light.
“How can theology not resemble light, given that its work and its reward is to think about Christ?… Theology has, therefore, such beauty and such injustice to bring to the light, to bring to Christ.”
Pagazzi also urged Thomasians to “be [a] light” amid a world full of both suffering and beauty.
“Thanks to the light, things emerge from darkness… The light causes every form and color of the world to appear. The light allows each thing to be itself, distinguished from everything else. The light desires things to be and to reveal their beauty,” he said.
“Be light. Place in the light the things that join us and those that tell us apart. Those things that divide are darkness,” Pagazzi added.
The Mass was attended by Dominican priests, students and professors of the Ecclesiastical Faculties and members of the UST Alumni Lay Priests’ Association.
Prior to the celebration, Pagazzi met with the UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. and visited the UST Central Seminary, where he was welcomed by its acting rector, Fr. Clarence Marquez, O.P.
This year’s celebration is themed “St. Thomas Aquinas: Illumined by Truth, Anchored in Hope.”