📘 Introduction
Ever wondered what the spiritual life looks like through the lens of St. Thomas Aquinas? In Contemplation and the Cross: A Catholic Introduction to the Spiritual Life, Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., offers a profound Thomistic vision of the journey to God. This isn’t your typical guide filled with prayer tips or saint stories. Instead, it’s a theologically rich deep dive into how the mystery of the Cross lies at the very centre of the Christian’s path to union with the Trinity.
⚙️ The Structure: Five Causes, One Goal
Fr. White organizes the entire book around the classical five causes—final, formal, material, exemplary, and efficient—to show not just why we pursue the spiritual life, but how it actually works.
His core thesis? The end of contemplative prayer is union with the Most Holy Trinity—and the means is union with Christ crucified, who reveals divine life most fully on the Cross. White’s purpose is to show that these two pillars—contemplation and the Cross—aren’t just related, but inseparably intertwined. Together, they form the very heart of Christian spirituality. Everything else—sacraments, virtues, prayer, even acts of mercy—flows from this living union with the Crucified and Risen Lord.
🔥 The Final Cause: Union with the Trinity
Chapter 1 kicks off with the big picture: the final cause of the spiritual life is nothing less than full participation in the inner life of the Trinity. That’s the goal of everything.
Because we’re created in God’s image, endowed with a spiritual soul that includes two spiritual powers: intellect and will, we’re naturally seeking God through our desires to know the truth and love the good as the source of true fulfillment. As Fr. White puts it: “Human beings are truth seekers and love seekers, beings moved always toward the desire for happiness and fulfillment, even tortuously so, and who are, ultimately, only ever fulfilled by something that is beyond each one of us individually” (11).
That “something” is God—and because of our nature, we are “naturally contemplative” (12), created to be “bridge-builders or pontiffs between the visible world and the invisible” (12). But here’s the catch: we can’t bridge that gap on our own. Due to sin and the infinite distance between Creator and creature, we need supernatural grace to reach our final end. That’s where God steps in—not by overpowering us, but by liberating us from within: “What is new in the mystery of grace is that the God who is already present… now makes himself known… by liberating us from within so as to know him and love him” (21).
Through Baptism, we receive sanctifying grace, which heals and elevates our nature and imprints a permanent character on the soul—opening the way for sacramental life and deeper conformity to Christ in both intellect and will (29).
But this contemplative identity isn’t just “downloaded” once and for all—it has to be modelled, nurtured, and lived out in real community: in families, parishes, and religious life. Only then can we fully embrace our baptismal identity and move toward our divine destiny.
✝️ The Formal Cause: Union with Christ Crucified
In Chapter 2, White explores the formal cause of the spiritual life as nothing less than union with Christ crucified (55–56). This isn’t just theological poetry—it’s deeply historical and profoundly personal. As White puts it: “The crucifixion really happened in the past as a historical event, but it also affects us now, and indeed it affects all persons in all times and places” (56).
On the Cross, Christ is not only Redeemer but Teacher—seated, as it were, in His teaching chair, instructing humanity in the most essential truths about God and man (105). As true God, He reveals the infinite depth of divine love by atoning for sin and reconciling us to the Father—at the very moment of humanity’s worst crime: the crucifixion of the Son of God (85–88). As true man, He models the path of human perfection through His lived practice of the virtues, gifts of the Spirit, and beatitudes (110–123).
On the Cross, Christ is the perfect “exemplar of holiness” (93)—fully human, yet entirely reoriented by grace (102), and fully divine, radiant with wisdom and love. White emphasizes that Christ, in His humanity, possesses all the virtues—theological, intellectual, and moral—in a way that is wholly “super-rational and transcendent” (110). However, he draws attention to one key distinction: faith.
Since Christ had the beatific vision during His earthly life, He did not possess the virtue of faith as we do (95). Yet precisely because He sees the Father, He can lead us through the darkness of death into the light of divine life: “We can die in Christ and trust in him through death, precisely because he, the crucified one who sees the Father, leads our soul toward its ultimate homeland” (100).
White also outlines a fascinating anthropological correspondence: the seven infused virtues align with the seven gifts of the Spirit, which in turn dispose the soul for the seven beatitudes (119–123). It’s a beautiful image of how the inner structure of grace builds toward the full flowering of holiness in the soul.
🕊 The Material Cause: The Sacraments and the Virtues
In Chapter 3, Fr. White turns to the material cause of the spiritual life—that is, the means through which we grow in contemplative union with Christ crucified and risen. These aren’t abstract tools; they’re the Church’s most effective and universal channels for participation in divine life (131).
At the heart of these means are the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Penance—instituted by Christ to extend His saving presence and incorporate us into His mystery “in this life and for the life to come” (132).
For the Eucharist, he states: “To live in Christ is to live in his Cross, and to live in his Cross is to live from the Eucharist, which conforms us to Christ crucified inwardly. The Cross lifts us up into heaven, and the Eucharist is the supreme entrance way to find this mystery, the beginning of the path, so to speak. It is not only a starting point. It is also a summit, since it is the greatest means to contemplative friendship with God, a place where we can live in contemplation of the face of the Father, the face of Christ crucified looking down on us, and the inward face of the Holy Spirit, who is radiant goodness, shining inwardly within our soul, distributing his gifts of goodness upon us as only he can do” (139-140).
For Penance, he states: “In light of these considerations… we can speak of a contemplative practice of the sacrament of penance, that is, sacramental penance as an expression of contemplative friendship with God. To live the sacrament of penance this way is to see the weakness, sinfulness, and misery of the human person—of oneself before God—as an occasion of growth in spiritual poverty. Genuine spiritual poverty leads to strength and peace, not weakness or self-alienation. Contemplative penitents can be radically truth-seeking and truth-telling regarding themselves before God without being despairing, scrupulous, or presumptuous. This is because they use the occasion of confession to become more radically present to the transcendent Father who forgives sins, more dependent only on Christ the Savior, and more docile to the inner teacher, the Holy Spirit” (145).
Beyond the sacraments, White points to the theological virtues—faith, hope, and charity—as deep interior means of union with God. These virtues elevate the natural virtue of religion, transforming it into a supernatural mode of true worship—both interior (through personal prayer) and exterior (through liturgy) (147–181).
This worship reaches its summit in the Mass, where we sacramentally enter into Christ’s redemptive self-offering to the Father—a moment of profound union and transformative grace (172–177).
Finally, White emphasizes the importance of sacred study as a contemplative discipline. Far from being dry intellectual work, studying Scripture and Tradition with faith engages the mind and heart, forming the soul in deeper union with Christ and nourishing a life of contemplative prayer (188–190).
❤️🔥 The Exemplary Causes: Jesus and Mary
In Chapter 4, Fr. White reflects on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary as “exemplary causes” of the spiritual life. These two hearts reveal how the Cross works—not just historically, but mystically and collegially—to unite us to God (218–219).
Drawing on the ancient typology of Jesus and Mary as the New Adam and New Eve, White presents them as the beginning of a new humanity in the supernatural order—channels of grace both universally active on earth and visibly glorified in heaven (193–199, 219, 238).
To explain how their grace is communicated, he distinguishes: (1) Condign merit: Christ’s perfect, just reward for His obedience as the God-man. (2) Congruent merit: The fitting reward given to those who, by grace, share in “the mission of Christ crucified” as intercessors (208, 203–205, 238).
Among all those who participate, Mary’s cooperation is the most perfect and complete: “She is an exemplar of perfect conformity to Christ” (237). Because she is “first” in the order of grace—receiving it before all and for the sake of all—we are invited to confidently seek her intercession (234, 225–234).
To help visualize this mystery, White turns to nature. Just as the Big Bang began with tiny particles that expanded into the universe, and evolution started with single cells that developed into complex life, so too in the supernatural order: Jesus and Mary are like the “first principles” of a new creation—two foundational lives through whom grace enters the world. Their resurrection and Assumption signal the beginning of the new heavens and new earth, the full re-creation of all things. In Christ and Mary, the universe’s renewal begins—not with noise and spectacle, but with quiet, faithful love.
💫 The Efficient Cause: Mercy
White offers a Thomistic take on the works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal, identifying one as the greatest of all: “The communication of the truth… in all its diverse expressions… is the greatest of the works of mercy” (270).
This communication unfolds in different ways: (1) Through lives totally consecrated to truth (e.g., monastic and cloistered vocations), (2) Through beautiful and reverent liturgical worship, and (3) through works of love and spoken witness in daily life (271).
Mary—rightly honoured as the “Mother of Mercy”—embodies this mercy on earth through both contemplation and action, and continues to intercede for us in heaven. She leads us to the Cross, where we are transformed into living vessels of God’s mercy (280–284).
White returns to the central theme to conclude: “This is the life of the Cross: to live by contemplation in the mercy of God and to offer this same life to others with Christ and from him” (284). “This is the life of the Cross: to live by contemplation in the mercy of God and to offer this same life to others with Christ and from him” (284).
🧠 Evaluation: Does the Book Deliver?
Fr. White outlines three goals in his preface. Here’s how the book holds up:
1. A Resource for Spiritual Reading
✅ Yes—but with a caveat. The depth of the Thomistic content may be challenging for beginners or those not used to philosophical theology. Suggestion? Add reflection questions and a basic introduction to contemplative prayer for future editions. If you’re reading the book, I encourage you to be attentive while you read to points you can take into prayer to go deeper.
2. A Work of Thomistic Theology
✅ Definitely. The use of the five causes offers a luminous, clear structure for exploring the spiritual life. That said, it’s a highly “object-centered” approach. A companion volume featuring personal witness from the saints could bring balance—showing how these theological insights unfold in the lives of real people across history and vocation.
3. A Gateway to Further Study
✅ Absolutely. The footnotes are gold. I spent hours going down rabbit holes thanks to White’s meticulous references. He even includes a helpful “Further Reading” list at the end of the book (293–294).
✅ Final Take
If you’re serious about understanding the purpose of the spiritual life—and you’re ready for a deep, Christ-centred, Thomistic immersion—Contemplation and the Cross is for you. It’s not a light read, but it is a radiant one.
May it challenge you, stretch you, and most importantly, lead you to the One who makes all things new—through the mystery of the Cross.
Note: This origin of this summary was for an assignment during my licentiate at the Angelicum in Rome. It simplifies and paraphrases key themes—Fr. White’s actual prose is far more precise, elegant, and worthy of prayerful reading.
Prodigal Catholic 
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