Writings like straw

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Lee1 said:
And why describe his writings as though like straw?
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The quote is only partial.
“The end of my labors has come. All that I have written appears to be as so much straw after the things that have been revealed to me.” When later asked by Reginald to return to writing, Aquinas said, “I can write no more. I have seen things that make my writings like straw.”
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And yet he went into so much detail in his writings before he had any vision and so it was intuitive surely?

Our Lord told him that he had written well of Him and then he stopped.

What was he writing about when he stopped? It was unfinished I think?
 
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The thing is, you’d expect an extraordinary writer to finish with an extraordinary feat. And in that sense what was this saints final feat? To finish with a single sentence, summing it all up, in a word, to heaven.

(and that is the conclusion, the only conclusion.)
 
It should also be noted that in Aquinas’ time, straw was used to cover dung. So it has an even more abasing meaning than we may initially think.
 
What was he writing about when he stopped?
I don’t understand adgloriums reply.
 
Lee1 said:
What was he writing about when he stopped?
I don’t understand adgloriums reply.
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If I remember correctly, he was writing a Summa of his Summa, and the Summa of course was considered an amazing feat back then and even now.
 
Lee1 said:
And yet he went into so much detail in his writings before he had any vision and so it was intuitive surely?
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St Thomas was really blest with understanding-a great deal coming from reason alone which is a great testimony to his methodology and intelligence together with his faith. And to extra grace perhaps. Because I agree, so much of what he said is right on as I see it, regarding supernatural things he couldn’t know directly otherwise.
 
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1 Corinthians 3:11-13

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
 
And i read somewhere,he asked st Paul whether the explanation / expounded the Scriptures well? ,said to him in reply come ill’ show you greater things! someone correct me here if am wrong?
 
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I suppose that an atheist would see St Aquinas’ statement as supporting the view that he was of the opinion that all he had written was somehow wrong dare I say, whereas a believer would see that statement as a positive confirmation of how the actual glory of God and heaven was far greater than ever imagined by him.

I’d like to know what he meant by it, but it doesn’t seem to be forthcoming?
 
clarkgamble said:
Thomas might have been thinking his writings should be used in a similar manner. In simple terms they were rather useless, perhaps in error, not true, or even complete nonsense, etc.

A writer that really believed what he wrote, and that had even more wonderful information revealed to him, would probably have said something more like… " my writings are inadequate to reveal the complexity of the essence of God but I did my best. And now I will continue writing using the new found information as revealed to me." Thomas’ defeatist reply sounds like the reply of someone who had been told what he wrote was all nonsense. Perhaps even that his particular God concept, with all its confusing attributes, did not exist.
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Very, very skeptical of your take.

It is hard to imagine that seeing that he had written nonsense, or that his particular concept of God did not exist, that he would not have written about that in the 3 months he had to live. And to think that he had a revelation to that effect, is admitting he did have a divine revelation.

No, much more likely that he realized, either through a vision or due simply to his great intellectual capacity, that what he had written was insufficient and he had no time to complete it. The use of the word straw is simply saying: my writings have value, but considered against the actual reality of the beatific vision, it seems to be a low value.
 
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Do you have an option as to what he meant by saying his writings had been like straw? And why he stopped writing, though I can see how those two are linked obviously.
 
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Like others have said, I think it just paled in comparison to his vision of Heaven. Perhaps he wished to spend his remaining days in reflection and not working on such work that was exhausting, after what he had seen
 
clarkgamble said:
A writer that really believed what he wrote, and that had even more wonderful information revealed to him, would probably have said something more like… " my writings are inadequate to reveal the complexity of the essence of God but I did my best. And now I will continue writing using the new found information as revealed to me." Thomas’ defeatist reply sounds like the reply of someone who had been told what he wrote was all nonsense. Perhaps even that his particular God concept, with all its confusing attributes, did not exist.
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Thomas died three months after the vision I believe was the time frame.
He was likely given the vision because he was about to die. The weaknesses of an illness often make it impossible to do work of any significance such as thinking and writing in detail. Something is physically wrong with a person who makes that straw quote and dies 3 months later when he’s in his 40s. He was too sick to write anymore.
His last words do not deny anything of what he wrote; these words are after the straw quote.

The following are said to have been his last words:
“If in this world there be any knowledge of this sacrament stronger than that of faith, I wish now to use it in affirming that I firmly believe and know as certain that Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, Son of God and Son of the Virgin Mary, is in this Sacrament. I receive Thee, the price of my redemption, for Whose love I have watched, studied and laboured. Thee have I preached; Thee have I taught. Never have I said anything against Thee: if anything was not well said, that is to be attributed to my ignorance. Neither do I wish to be obstinate in my opinions, but if I have written aught erroneous concerning this sacrament or other matters, I submit all to the judgment and correction of the Holy Roman Church, in whose obedience I now pass from this life.”

John Martin
 
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Those are great last words, but why give a man a vision because he is about to die? Immediately after death he would have realised the truth anyway.

Perhaps he was given the vision so that he could tell us how actually his writings were the best mankind could do and even they were nothing compared to reality and the truth. That’s far more likely I think. It’s a way of telling us that no human being can ever grasp the immensity and awesomeness of God and heaven and the dimensions hidden to us poor creatures. In effect it was a subtle display of Gods truly awesome nature, and one which would last too since even now we are still discussing it.
 
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