Aquinas at Prayer: The Bible, Mysticism and Poetry by Paul Murray OP

Author:Paul Murray OP [Murray OP, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: The Bible, Mysticism and Poetry
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

(iii) Contemplation and action

St Thomas concludes his thoughts on contemplation in his commentary on Psalm 54 by making a distinction between what he calls the wings of ‘the raven’ in contrast to those of ‘the dove’. The ‘dove’ is that generous contemplative who not only contemplates, but desires also to share with others the fruits of contemplation. The image suggested here is, of course, that of the dove returning speedily back to the ark of Noah in order to bring the good news.82 In contrast, the ‘raven’ is an image of the selfish individual whose only real interest in life is his own intellectual fulfilment and satisfaction:

For the raven did not turn back to the ark. But the dove returned bearing a green olive branch. Those fly like ravens who do not turn back to the ark by the affection of holiness, for they do not think of anything but themselves, namely how they might track down some truth, like the philosophers. But those fly like doves who both contemplate and turn back towards their neighbours, teaching what they have contemplated, those who, with the green olive branch in their mouth, bear as porters the oil of mercy, devoting themselves to their neighbours. The dove, too, is a clean creature, and lovable, a creature that groans [i.e. coos]; and that’s how saintly people are affected by their neighbours, and feel compassion for them.83

The idea of passing on to others things which we ourselves have contemplated (contemplata aliis tradere) is an idea which was most famously expressed by Aquinas in the Summa theologiae II II q.188, a.6. There, however, the austere intellectual structure of the work allowed for no more than a brief, straightforward statement. Here, in contrast, St Thomas gives himself more breathing space, as it were, and in order to make his point with greater clarity and vividness, seems to take considerable delight, as an author, in highlighting the contrast between the images of dove and raven. I find that being able to come upon paragraphs of such quiet wit and wisdom marks one of the very real pleasures of reading Aquinas’s Commentary on the Psalms.

The actual life of contemplation, evoked by the phrase ‘contemplata aliis tradere’, is a way of life that can hope to survive and flourish only if it is able enjoy a serene, meditative environment. That fact is one which Aquinas, I have no doubt, would be among the first to acknowledge. But those who ‘take flight’ in contemplation, and in particular those who make great progress in prayer, are not men and women of a complacent and self-satisfied disposition. No, the opposite is the case. Commenting on the text, This poor man called and the Lord heard him (Psalm 33), Thomas observes that the individual, in this case, was manifestly ‘poor in spirit, or poor in pride, or poor in earthly desires’.84 And it is men and women who are poor in that way, Thomas insists, whose prayer has real merit in the end,

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