Praying in the Presence of Our Lord: With St. Thomas Aquinas

by Mike Aquilina

Tantum ergo Sacramentum  Veneremur cernui Down in adoration falling, Lo! The Sacred Host we hail These words, written by the great theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, have inspired millions over the past seven centuries.  St. Thomas's devotion to the Eucharist was profound.  His brother Dominicans recalled that he would spend long hours kneeling before the tabernacle.  When he faced a particularly difficult problem, he would lean against the tabernacle, as if to rest against the Master's heart as did the Beloved Disciple at the Last Supper. Now St. Thomas's immortal poems of praise - in both their original Latin and stunning translation - have been assembled along with insightful meditations and commentary by Mike Aquilina in Praying in the Presence of Our Lord with St. Thomas Aquinas.  

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Mike Aquilina is author or editor of more than thirty books, including The Fathers of the Church, The Mass of the Early Christians, and A Year with the Church Fathers. He has co-hosted eight series that air on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). He has co-authored books with Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., and theologian Scott Hahn. He is past editor of New Covenant magazine and The Pittsburgh Catholic newspaper. He appears weekly on Sirius Radio's "Sonrise Morning Show." Mike and his wife, Terri, have six children, who are the subject of his book Love in the Little Things.

In 2011 Mike was a featured presenter of the U.S. Bishops' Diocesan Educational/Catechetical Leadership Institute. He also wrote the USCCB's theological reflection for Catechetical Sunday in 2011.

His reviews, essays and journalism have appeared in many journals, including First Things, Touchstone, Crisis, Our Sunday Visitor, National Catholic Register, and Catholic Heritage. He contributed work on early Christianity to the Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought.

Mike is a also poet whose works have appeared in U.S. literary journals and have been translated into Polish and Spanish. He shared songwriting credits with Grammy Award-winner Dion DiMucci on the forthcoming album "Tank Full of Blues."

Reviews

[Joseph R.]

Thomas Aquinas, a great technical and precise theologian of the 1200s, was given the task of creating poems to be part of the liturgy for the newly-declared Feast of Corpus Christi. The feast celebrates the Incarnation, the Second Person of the Trinity made flesh like us, especially in the Eucharist, the sacrament whereby we receive His very Body and Blood. Thomas's poetry has became a staple in the Catholic Church, though few know that he wrote Pange, Lingua or Panis Angelicus or Adoro Te Devote. They are different in style from the Scholastic precision of his Summa Theologiae. The Summa is dry and hard to read with out some preparation and training in scholastic writing. The hymns are lyrical and vivid. But all his writings are one in content, having the love of and for God at their centers.

Aquilina presents these five poems (the other two being Lauda, Sion and Verbum Supernum) in Latin and English with seven short meditations, each on a few lines from the poem. Aquilina draws insights from Thomas's other works to expand the meaning and the significance of the hymns. He also connects them to our spiritual lives. In the introduction, Aquilina recommends using these meditations the way Thomas usually prayed, in the Eucharistic presence. I did not have that luxury with this reading but hopefully in a future re-read I can. The book ends with Thomas's prayers before and after communion, so the book would be handy to take to daily Mass.

This book is a fine devotional for spending a good, long month with Thomas and Jesus.

Highly recommended.