What's In a Name?

Hi! Welcome to my brand new blog. I'm a Catholic, a librarian, a Star Trek fan, a singer, and a person with a disability. I hope to discourse intelligently on all these things and more in the days to come, and I hope you good people of World Wide Web Land and the Blogsphere will find my thoughts on these subjects interesting.

So why did I choose the name "It's All Straw? There's a story about St. Thomas Aquinas, possibly the greatest intellect the Catholic Church ever had at its disposal. His greatest work was called the Summa Theologica, a synthesis of the Christian revelation with the pre-Christian wisdom of Aristotle, another intellect so tremendous that people in the Middle Ages just called him "The Philosopher," as if there weren't anyone else. The Catholic Encyclopedia calls the Summa, "a complete scientifically arranged exposition of theology and at the same time a summary of Christian philosophy." Yet the Summa is unfinished. Towards the end of his life, Thomas had a series of mystical experiences, visions, and revelations of God that made him realize all his philosophical and theological speculation counted for very little when faced with the mystery and majesty of the One Who Is. "Everything I have written is straw," he said.

It took Thomas nearly all his life to come to this humbling realization. I figure if I can remember it when I'm just starting my humble blog, I'll be in good shape--and good company. I want to write about my life, my faith, and my world, but always with a healthy dose of humility. I don't know everything. The world is bigger than I am. God is bigger than both of us.