Recently, I was at Wegmans, and a person was wearing a T-shirt that said, “It’s Okay to Love Erie.” This clever and humorous phrase can be read differently in July than in January. Aquinas understood that we cannot love what we do not know.
To love Erie, one has to know Erie.
The Aquinas, Erie, and the Eucharist series has explored various aspects of Erie, such as the Bicentennial Tower, State Street, Presque Isle and its protection of Erie, the many restaurants, the mural on the Methodist Towers and the Erie sunsets.
According to Aquinas, knowing Erie helps one to love Erie more.
Without question, Aquinas had a towering mind that could know things. However, he also had a heart in love with Jesus, which increased his desire to learn even more.
Early biographers of Aquinas noted that he would frequently visit the tabernacle to pray. During these visits, Aquinas would sometimes place his head against the tabernacle.
The imagery could not be more straightforward: the great mind of Aquinas, which knew many things, rested in the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, which ignited in his heart a greater love. Aquinas knew the goodness of the Eucharist, which only increased his love for it.
Aquinas thought that “love demanded some apprehension of the good that is to be loved.” Those from Erie and those who visit Erie develop an apprehension of the good of Erie, which leads to greater love.
The same can be said of the Eucharist, in which those who develop an apprehension of the good found in the Eucharist are better able to fall in love with the Eucharist.
In addition, Aquinas also believed that “the contemplation of spiritual beauty or goodness is the beginning of spiritual love.” When one contemplates the beauty and goodness of Erie, the love of Erie naturally follows. The same occurs when considering the beauty and goodness of the Eucharist, in which greater love of the Eucharist follows.
We cannot love what we do not know.
May we, with the help of God’s grace, learn more about Erie and the Eucharist and, in doing so, fall more deeply in love with both.
Fr. Luke Daghir