Word to the Wise
Friday, November 15, 2024 - Friday in the 32th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 John 4-9 and Luke 17:26-37]I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth just as we were commanded by the Father. But now, Lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing a new commandment but the one we have had from the beginning: let us love one another. [2 John]
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2024 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT, op
[2 John 4-9 and Luke 17:26-37. These are the scriptures in the Roman calendar. They may vary at Dominican locations because St. Albert the Great is a prominent Dominican saint.]
One of the mottoes of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) is a single word: VERITAS - the Latin word for TRUTH. Albert the Great was a singular lover of truth, not only the truth about Christ but the truth as it was to be found around us in nature and in the contributions of other thinkers and seekers after truth. He was called GREAT in his own lifetime because of his systematic scientific investigation of nature. (Statues of Albert that I have seen show him with either a frog or a chemical retort flask in one hand!) But he made two other very important contributions. The first of those was his advocacy of the writings of the Greek philosopher Aristotle as a way of discovering and explaining the truth of the gospel. The second was his realization that a young Dominican friar at the university of Paris showed great promise and took him under his (Albert's) wing. That young Dominican friar was Thomas Aquinas!! Matching Aquinas with Aristotle was to revolutionize Catholic theology to this very day!!!
The Catholic church has had a rather spotty relationship with scientific research. And the enemies of the church have not hesitated to use this record to attack Catholic and other Christian faiths. Galileo and Darwin are two examples of pioneer scientists who have come under attack by Catholic theological authorities. The attitude of the official magisterium has moved more toward the "use" of certain scientific discoveries instead of attacking the discoveries themselves. The moral dimensions of scientific research are important to all the human race and the church should stand forth in bearing witness to that truth as well as recognizing the value of the research. St. Albert the Great is a wonderful "patron saint" for this challenge. AMEN