Today I opened my email to a thought on Church History (sponsored by Christianity Today).
December 6, 1273: Following a tremendous mystical experience while conducting Mass, Thomas Aquinas suspends work on his Summa Theologica. “I can do no more,” he told his servant. “Such things have been revealed to me that all that I have written seems to me as so much straw. Now I await the end of my life.”
Seems that no one knows what that vision might have been. Aquinas was probably the theologian of his day – his written works are still read today. But, in the end of life (which was not much longer after this experience) he stopped writing, lecturing and doing the academic thing. He was still called on by others to give opinion and commentary. But his great summary work of theology was just left suspended in mid-sentence.
A mystery to be solved? The mystical experience was said to have taken place during Mass, a time where communion with God is expected and cherished. Perhaps . . .