“To live well is to work well, to show a good activity.” (See, even Thomas Aquinas believed in training more to live well.)
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was a philosopher and theologian from the 13th century whose work I believe supports the mantra, “it is difficult to study your way out of the Catholic Church.”
Aquinas had a phrase, physico-theology, he used for discussing theology through the prism, design or make up of the natural world, especially as we view this “design” as being done by God. His ideas here gave rise to his Argument for Design for the existence of God, beginning with the “fifth way” of the Summa Theologica. (This contributed to what we call “intelligent design” today. Aquinas believes to have proven God’s existence 5 different ways in the Summa.)
I went to St. Thomas Aquinas High School and have since been interested in his works. Recently, I have found three Aquinas quotes that apply directly to the CatholicFIT philosophy.
1. “Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.”
This speaks of two distinctly different joys, one that is of the body and the senses, and one that is on a much deeper level. The primary point is this: we are always hungry. Ask yourself, “what are you hungry for?” and “how are you feeding this hunger?” For example, in the absence of:
- healthy relationships,
- connection with a community,
- an ability to express oneself (along with the Holy Spirit within us),
- and a feeling of purpose in life,
one may turn to other vices – food, alcohol, unhealthy relationships, etc. If you stumbled upon this article because you want to get back into shape, consider reflecting upon where and how you are “deprived of your true spiritual joys” first before thinking too much about how many calories you are eating and how often you are working out. This is what we do in the first half of the CatholicFIT Program. We hope to revisit and rebuild our natural foundation of health, strength and vitality before moving on.
Who and what are filling our voids?
While watching Frozen with Tara and the kids, I remember looking over at her somewhat disappointed but also not surprised (it is Disney after all) by the line in the “For the First Time in Forever” song as 18 year old Anna is singing about possibly meeting “the one.” She sings that she may be so nervous to meet someone that she may instead stuff her face with chocolate. (See how she hides her face with her fan in this picture?) This is what our society will teach our children (and us) if we do not consciously and consistently talk to them about what being healthy really means. If our children experience a void in their life, our media, social media, TV and culture at large will gladly step up and fill that void for them.
Check out Part 2 of the 3 part series with the second quote:
“Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.”
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