At 8:30 in the Chapel each morning, after a chaplain recited St. Thomas’s Prayer Before Studying, students approached the communion rail in a single-file line, kneeling and then kissing a first-class relic of the Angelic Doctor. The blessing, which takes place during finals week every semester, allows students to ask for St. Thomas’s prayers in an intimate, tangible way.
“It’s a good way to start because it reminds us why we study these great things and why we live, really,” says California sophomore Jakob Gueits. “It’s all to know God and for God; otherwise it’s all vanity. The blessing is also great as a source of comfort.”
