Thomas Aquinas (1225 - March 1274), titled his greatest work the Summa Theologica⏤the sum of all theology. In writing it, Thomas welcomed the philosophy of Plato and embraced the theology of Augustine who to him “had the mind of the Catholic Church.”  

Aquinas worked tirelessly on his Summa for nearly nine years, compiling 38 tracts, 631 questions, about 3,000 articles, and 10,000 objections with their answers. Then everything changed.

     On 6 December 1273, while in the process of celebrating Mass, Thomas entered into an unusually long spiritual ecstasy. Because of what he experienced in it, Thomas abandoned his routine and refused to dictate to his constant and intimate companion Reginald of Piperno. When Reginald begged him to get back to work, Thomas replied: "Reginald, I cannot, because all I have written and taught seem to me to be nothing but a heap of straw." The RCC elevated the author of this heap of straw as a Doctor of the Church, and beyond that, proclaimed him to be the greatest theologian ever.

It is significant that Thomas compared his work on the Summa to mere straw. His mind may well have connected directly with this passage from Paul:

     According to the grace of God which is being granted to me, as a wise foreman I lay a foundation, yet another is building on it. Yet let each one beware how he is building on it. For other foundation can no one lay beside that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone is building on this foundation gold and silver, precious stones, wood, grass, straw, each one's work will become apparent, for the day will make it evident, for it is being revealed by fire. And the fire, it will be testing each one's work ⏤what kind it is (I Corinthians 3:10-13).

In my view, Thomas recognized that his work, supposed to have been built upon Jesus Christ, was anything but gold, silver, or precious stones. It was mere straw, highly flammable, a hollow reed, suitable for livestock bedding and the chicken coop, and as it represented the soulish reasoning of mankind, totally inadequate to elucidate the meaning of the pure word of God.