St. Thomas Aquinas is often remembered for the clarity of his intellect, but at the heart of his theology is a deeper truth: contemplation ordered toward love of God and the preaching of the Gospel. As he himself writes, “It is better to give to others the fruits of one’s contemplation than merely to contemplate.” These words express the heart of the Dominican vocation as contemplative preachers.
Near the end of his life, St. Thomas Aquinas experienced a moment that revealed the simplicity beneath his immense learning. When a voice from a crucifix asked him, “Thomas, you have written well of me—what do you want as your reward?” his response was immediate and unadorned: Non nisi te, Domine — Nothing but You, O Lord.
In this reflection, Fr. Joseph Anthony Kress, O.P., considers what this response reveals about the ordering of desire. St. Thomas teaches that all knowledge, preaching, and virtue find their meaning only when they are directed toward God himself. The true end of contemplation is not achievement or recognition, but union with the Lord.
Through the wisdom of this Doctor of the Church, we are invited to ask that our own desires may be purified and rightly ordered, so that we too may seek not many things, but one — God alone.
