St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel
Prayer - Ora et Labora - Apologetics
Welcome
Greetings of grace and peace, and thank you for visiting the home page of the Benedictine Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas, located at 80 Shelby Speights Drive in Purvis, Mississippi.
Our practice as a Benedictine chapel is simply to love and minister to others. Our chapel seeks to fulfill this mission through prayer and the practice of apologetics. Our passion is to be our Lord's instrument for spiritual support and growth through sound doctrine, warm fellowship, and service to our fellow believers as well as all who love and seek truth. We serve as a ministry of, and are under the jurisdiction of, The Anglican Orthodox Southern Episcopal Church.
St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel offers evening prayer services as practiced according to the liturgy of the Glenstal Book of Prayer, as well as outreach through our Apologetics groups and our Benedictine prayer group on Facebook. Our theology and our practice of apologetics is focused on our Triune God, rooted in the holy Scriptures, and keeping with the tradition that has been handed down through the centuries within the one, holy ancient Church.
To learn more about the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel, including our location and online ministries of prayer, apologetics, and outreach, you can browse this site, or contact us through our Facebook page, St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel.
We would love to hear from you, our friends and neighbors, and brothers and sisters in Christ, and share with you our vision for reaching others for our Lord.
Our Mission
We believe that the way of Christ is the way of love expressed in service to others.
Our mission is to be fully devoted to Jesus by opening our arms to those who are hurting, grieving, or in need.
Through outreach, prayer, and opening our doors to listen and love, we seek to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, going where He sends us to help meet the needs of others.
Weekly Mass Service
St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel offers a traditional setting for this most holy mystery.
This being a sacred meal in which Christ Himself is present in a special way, all properly baptized believers, repentant of sins and having received absolution, are invited to join us in the fellowship of Christ's Body, as together in faith we partake of His once offered Sacrifice.
During this Sacrament we, as part of the universal Church of the ages, also join in giving thanks for His Atonement and offering our meager sacrifices of praise, as we reaffirm His New Covenant.
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Studies in St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica:
Vol. 1, Q. 22, The Providence of God:
We've all heard people say that God is in control, but do the Scriptures really teach that in an absolute way?
The Scriptures affirm that the God of the Bible sustains
everything that exists from moment to moment and so without His active, enabling power, nothing could function or even exist.
According to St. Thomas, God is the First Cause and remains the active Sustainer of reality from moment to moment. He then exercises sovereign, meticulous control over everything as He sustains and enables all living creatures "to live and have their being" (Acts 17:28).
God accompishes this by the power of His will and causative foreknowledge of every motion, from the foundation of the world. This is a very scriptural doctrine in which believers can take great comfort.
Study Passages and Meditation on the Sacrament of Baptism:
The Meaning and Significance of the Sacrament of Baptism:
Matt 19:28
Jn 3:5
Jn 15:1-6
Acts 2:28
Acts 22:16
Rom 6
1Cor 6
1Cor 10:1-12
1 Cor 12
Gal 3:12, 22-28
Col 2:11-12
Heb 6:
Heb 10: 22
Titus 3:5
I Pet 3:21
Baptism is a Covenant act, very much like marriage, that sets the one receiving Baptism apart from the world.
In Baptism we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light. In a moment, through this visible Covenant we are changed for all time in that we are at once bound to a new Master and adopted into His family. Does this mean that all who are baptized will ultimately be redeemed? No, for within the Kingdom there are both good and wicked servants, good fish as well as bad, and those who are wheat serving right alongside of those who are tares.
Is Baptism then sometimes ineffective?
No, Baptism always acts to objectively seal the recipient, grafting the one receiving the Sacrament into the Spiritual Body of Christ, which is His visible Church. This Church is the citizenry of His Kingdom and we as its members through Baptism are then, Christ's representatives on Earth, working through humble service to God first and then to our fellow creatures.
Therefore, those who receive Baptism without faith are still nonetheless bound to the Covenant and are responsible as servants of the Father's Kingdom. Through Baptism, they have become members of the Body of Christ, and should they then persist without obtaining inward renewal which only comes from the gift of faith, by the grace of the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they will face eternal condemnation.
So how can you know individually and with certainty that you are not only His child through Baptism, but also His child inwardly through both Baptism and faith?
First, realize that water Baptism and faith are meant to go together in God's plan for our redemption. It can be said as an old song goes, "you can't have one without the other" and although there are exceptions, those exceptions prove the rule.
We are commanded to be baptized and one who has access to Baptism yet refuses the life giving laver of regeneration is disqualified from the start because of such disobedience. No Baptism, no membership in the Body of Christ and no citizenship in His Kingdom, for as the Lord Himself said, "You are my friends if you do what I command."
Then is Baptism a work that you, and I must do to obtain eternal life?
No, Baptism is not a work of man anymore than was circumcision which prefigured Baptism
under the Old Covenant.
This concludes this section on Baptism. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact the Benedictine Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas, through our subscribe for updates window on this website or on our Facebook page, and until next time, may God bless you and keep you. †
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Daily Prayers
Join us on our Facebook page, St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel, for Evening Prayer, and to pray with and for other believers.
Please let us know of any prayer needs that you have, or know of, as we would consider it among the highest of privileges and blessings to pray for you, and with you.
Also, we welcome you to join us in our Apologetics group, for ongoing discussions and sharing of resources for defending the Christian faith as handed down through the Apostles and Church Fathers. The Apologetics group can be found on Facebook and is made up of fellow believers helping one another learn more about how to defend the Faith.