Teacher of Faith and Science

Today's feast day takes me back.  I still remember the Masses, balloon launches, parades, assemblies and blessings in which we participated back when I was a gradeschooler at St. Albert the Great in North Royalton, OH.  November 15 was a big deal at my grade school.

I don't think I realized until much later, though, just what a big deal St. Albert the Great was.  Here was the son of a nobleman who fell in love with his Lord early in life, and dispite his family's discouragement, sought out a religious life.  He didn't just dedicate himself to learning--he saw learning as a means to knowing God, and the better we know someone, the more deeply we can love that someone.

It's thanks to St. Albert that we have St. Thomas Aquinas.  No wonder he was declared a Doctor of the Church.

I found the following thought at EWTN's website that says it better than I ever could:   "St. Albert the Great was convinced that all creation spoke of God and that the tiniest piece of scientific knowledge told us something about Him. Besides the Bible, God has given us the book of creation revealing something of His wisdom and power. In creation, Albert saw the hand of God."  (read more about Albert the Great here.)