The face of racism and discrimination

Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, influential philosopher and theologian and jurist in the scholastic tradition of the county of Aquino in the Kingdom of Sicily, Italy; he is known in lore as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis. In 1999, John Paul II added a new title to the traditional ones: Doctor Humanitatis. He was also a prominent proponent of natural theology and the father of a school of thought (embracing both theology and philosophy) known as Thomism. He argued that God is the source of the light of natural reason and the light of faith. He has been described as "the most influential thinker of the medieval period" and "the greatest of medieval philosopher-theologians". His ideas, unlike many currents in the Catholic Church at the time, encompassed several ideas put forward by Aristotle, whom he called "the Philosopher" and attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity.

The Summa Theologiae or Summa Theologica is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas. It is a compendium of all the major theological teachings of the Catholic Church. Summa topics follow the following cycle: God; Creation, Man, Man's Purpose, Christ, the Sacraments, and returning to God. Although unfinished, it is one of the classics in the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works in Western literature.

Thomas's originality is found in his general prologue in these words; 'the main intention of sacred doctrine is to convey the knowledge of God, not only as he is in himself, but also as the beginning and end of things, especially of the rational creature'. The structure of his thought is based on the study of human behavior based on the perspective of man as 'image of God' and with the purpose of transmitting the knowledge of God as the beginning and end of the rational creature. It is important to realize that, for Thomas, the movement of the rational creature towards God is the meaning of his morality. Therefore, the fundamental categories on which Thomistic ethics is centered and concentrated can be summarized in the following ways; man as image of God, the end, participation and conscience.

With the ethical-theological idea above, Tomas shed more light on the issue of rational creatures in the image of God. For him, 'the origin and reason of moral theology reside in the presence of God in man as in his image; moreover, the metaphor of the image is well suited to man as it constitutes the principle of his action, as he is endowed with free will and dominion over his actions.'

Man as the image of God is called to integrate himself into the divine plan; but this integration cannot be carried out only in an executive way, since man is an intellectual being, with free will and power of his own, being endowed with free will and dominion over his actions. Therefore, their insertion in the divine plan must be made in such a way that their works are not only in conformity with that plan (the eternal law), but are also born freely oriented towards this end.

So how can we update Thomas' thoughts in our modern world and especially in our pastoral areas?

The issue of man created in the image of God is becoming one of the complicated issues of the modern era, given the advancement of scientific work that allows the change of body organs, the change of body structure (man becoming woman or woman becoming man). The non-acceptance of this reality, that is, homophobic acts, transphobic acts, etc., has led to suicide many of our young people who, in one way or another, are in search of a welcoming society or a family.

Our job as pastors is not to condemn or judge anyone's actions or decisions, but to show God's love and mercy to all of creation. Man created in the image of God is not a perfect being, therefore, his imperfection will always bring him to God's mercy with or without our presence as shepherds. Man created in the image of God must feel comfortable in his being, in his sexuality and in his person, this must be our way of approaching and welcoming the many young people that exist in society in search of a way of understanding themselves.