All College
|
December 16, 2022
Share:

With the end of the semester comes final examinations at Thomas Aquinas College. Throughout the past week, students have come together to work through the Great Books they have studied this past semester, both campuses transforming into places of intensely focused study. While this pursuit is a wonderful cultivation of intellect, it would be incomplete without a spiritual complement, and each morning has provided an opportunity for just that.

Students on the California campus filled Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel at 8:30 every morning this week for a special time of prayer. At each gathering, they prayed St. Thomas's Prayer Before Study, after which one of the College's chaplains would present a first-class relic of St. Thomas Aquinas for their veneration. Students kissed the relic, asking the College's patron for his intercession, before departing to take their exams.

California Finals and Blessing Photos
  • Three studying on the Chapel steps
  • A student studies on the Chapel steps
  • Two study in a pew in the Chapel
  • Students pray before finals in the Chapel
  • Another view of praying students in the Chapel
  • Fr. Chung speaks from the pulpit
  • Fr. Lopez blesses students with the relic before finals
  • Fr. Chung blesses students with the relic
  • Fr. Lopez blesses students with the relic before finals
  • Two students sit on a bench in the quad
  • Two study on the Chapel steps
  • Two study together
  • Two walk down the arcade
  • A student in front of a blackboard points to "A+B" written on it

Meanwhile in New England, students have crowded into Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel each morning for a blessing from one of the campus’s two chaplains and to venerate a relic from the Holy Cross of Christ. This tradition allows the students a moment of peace before their exams, giving them the opportunity to ask for the Lord’s help in the trial ahead.

New England Blessing Photos
  • Students in the pews before the blessing
  • A student prays in one of the pews
  • Students in the Chapel pews
  • Fr. Markey reads a prayer before the relic
  • Students pray in the pews
  • Students pray in the pews
  • Fr. Markey holds up the relic
  • Students kiss the relic
  • A student kisses the relic
  • Fr. Markey presents the relic to a student
  • Students in line to kiss the relic
  • A student kisses the relic

May the Lord bless all of the College’s students over the upcoming Christmas break!