WE ARE FIELDS BEFORE EACH OTHER

How is it they live for eons in such harmony -

the billions of stars - when most men can barely go a minute

without declaring war in their mind against someone they know.

There are wars where no one marches with a flag,

though that does not keep casualties

from mounting.

Our hearts irrigate this earth.

We are fields before

each other.

How can we live in harmony?

First we need to know we are all madly in love

with the same

God. 

~ St. Thomas Aquinas

 

Thomas Aquinas was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Order from Italy, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian. In the beautiful passage above, Aquinas speaks of peace. The title of the poem We are fields before each other, it mean we are responsible for one another. When Thomas Aquinas wrote this poem there were problems within the church. The main problem was the East-West Schism, or the Great Schism, that divided medieval Christendom into Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.  Political and theological differences kept the two churches in constant dispute. This poem is just as relevant today as it was when Thomas Aquinas wrote it. When it comes to Christianity we are as divided now as ever before. As Christians we have lost sight of what is really important. We care about so many trivial things that do not matter to our faith or to God.  It is a well-known fact that Sunday is the most segregated day. According to the Dictionary of Christianity in America [Protestant] (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1990): "As of 1980 David B. Barrett identified 20,800 Christian denominations worldwide . . ." ("Denominationalism," page 351). 20,800 in 1980, so you can imagine how may there are today. We all claim to be searching for the truth, to be looking for God. I can’t help but wonder what God thinks of this. Is he happy with what we have done to the church?

Just something to think about.