Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Mark (4: 26-34) where Jesus spoke to the crowd through many parables in order to share the Word of God. Fr Paul also shares a brief history of the life of St Thomas Aquinas through his reflection.
 
St Thomas Aquinas, who’s life we celebrate today was born in to a noble family in southern Italy in 1225. Fr Paul shares that Thomas was educated by the Benedictines, and in the normal course of things he would have joined that order. However, Thomas decided to become a Dominican instead and by this his family were so scandalised by this that they kidnapped him and held him prisoner for over a year. But Thomas eventually got his way.
 
Fr Paul says, Thomas then studied in Paris, which was in a time of great philosophical upheaval, where the works of Aristotle were published and able to accessed by many. During this time Thomas brought simple, straight forward sense and out of his work came produced many writings on philosophy and theology. St Thomas Aquinas died in 1274.St Thomas Aquinas died in 1274.
 
Today, Fr Paul says that we might reflect, like St Thomas, on how the Holy Spirit might inspire us to love God in our minds and in our hearts.