Flying cows and the challenge of friendship

Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, Jan. 29, 2011
Homily reflection by Kevin J. Banet

Kevin”s take: Our daily Mass goers are usually a quiet group, but today the sermon by Fr. Jason Welle, O.F.M., elicited a few chuckles from the pews. Father told a story about Thomas Aquinas, who was known by his fellow students as a very smart boy. “No one likes a smarty pants,” Fr. Jason offered. So his friends decided to play a trick on him. When Thomas was in the classroom, they looked out the window and cried out, “Look, the cows are flying!”

Thomas scurried over to the window, and of course, the cows were not flying. His school chums laughed in derision, having fooled the most intellectually gifted among them. But Thomas had a quick comeback: “I would rather believe that cows could fly than my friends lie to me.”

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