If Aquinas laid down his pen deliberately, there is a sense in which he chose poverty of spirit over intellectual achievement. Both are characteristically Dominican virtues. It is important to understand that he was a friar, not a monk. Monks like Cistercians and Benedictines live a life of prayer and labour in seclusion from the world, and their monasteries are meant to be enclaves of order, peace and stability. Rooted in a single spot, monks aim for economic self-sufficiency by farming, running fee-paying schools, manufacturing exotic liqueurs and the like. Friars like Dominicans and Franciscans, by contrast, live hand to mouth, on the hoof, as mendicants dependent on the charity of the common people. Like monks, they live in community, but unlike them they pursue their mission out on the streets. Friars are urban types, while monks are mostly rural. Their original aim was to liberate theology from the cloisters and colleges so it could become what this book calls ‘a multi-tasking practice in the streets’. Dominicans in particular combine preaching and poverty, in the manner of Jesus himself. They need to be free of possessions, as well as to be celibate (and thus unburdened by domestic duties), in order to be footloose, flexible and available to all comers. Unlike US televangelists, they also need to make it clear to those they serve that there is nothing in it for them.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n23/terry-eagleton/disappearing-acts
Have a look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSu0XHz1xhA
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n23/terry-eagleton/disappearing-acts
Have a look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSu0XHz1xhA
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