Here is a different painting of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). He wears the black and white Dominican habit, holding one of his great volumes in his left hand and feather-quill in his right. I like the painting because Thomas was said to be obese which isn't featured here and instead of looking up at putti angels peeking out of golden clouds, he looks out at us. I find that to be quite refreshing — the artist acknowledging that Thomas wrote about God, but for us. The bottom of the painting is either incomplete or damaged. Maybe in this painting Thomas has been awake all night and has just completed this prayer which many of us will appreciate and seek to make our own.
Grant me, O Lord my God
a mind to know you,
a heart to seek you,
wisdom to find you,
conduct pleasing to you,
faithful perseverance in waiting for you,
and hope of finally embracing you.
Of course, there is our embrace of God, but only as a response to God's own first embrace, even kiss, which has embraced us long before we even had a thought of God. Aquinas wouldn't mind my adding that thought.
