St. Albert the Great, A True Dominican Friar

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-3

Let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us. We hear in the reading a very familiar message, running the race of faith. In this passage, instead of simply encouraging us to persevere in the race, to keep fighting the good fight. St. Paul instead gives us a direction and goal for which to run — Jesus. This passage is about living a life of faith that lasts beyond our sinful desires, throwing off everything that hinders us from our beliefs, by fixing our eyes on Jesus as our goal.

I used to run cross country in high school. In my junior year of high school, my team qualified for the state meet. During my run, I was on my last lap, when I saw a runner ahead and knew I could beat him if I went all out in a sprint. The crowd, seeing that I was trying to pass him, started cheering. The other runner saw I was gaining on him so he picked up his pace. He and I are giving it everything we have. Neck and neck, we make the last turn and are 30 yards, 20 yards, 10 yards to the finish line. I can hear him running somewhere next to me. So I turn my head slightly to make sure I’m in front. That head turn slowed me down and he ended up beating me by half a stride, all because I turned my head from the finish line. I lost.

Today is the feast day of St. Albert the Great. In the little research I did on St. Albert, I didn’t find anything about him being a very good runner, in fact it seems more likely that he was closer to being a religious Gandalf or a Catholic Dumbledore. If someone was to ask what made St. Albert so great, they could easily point to the hundreds of scientific advancements he made in the 13th century we still use today. St. Albert was a master and heavily contributed to the fields of logic, psychology, metaphysics, meteorology, mineralogy, and zoology. He proved the flat Earthers wrong by mathematically proving the Earth was spherical. What earned St. Albert the title of great while he was still alive, were his many scientific advancements and his encyclopedic knowledge of the natural sciences. However, to us, what makes St. Albert great lies in his example of keeping his divine faith the center of his human knowledge. St. Albert studied and taught in a way that showed his faith and knowledge were inseparable. St. Albert’s deep faith drove him to his goal of seeing God face to face.

This is why Christ instructs us, “Seek you first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things will be added unto you.” I believe it was in this Gospel verse that St. Albert drew his motivation. Mainly because he never stopped seeking God in anything and everything, he searched for God in the stars, in rocks, in animals, in plants. St. Albert used his faith to elevate his knowledge. He studied all these things to come into a closer relationship with God. Modern scientists try to show how independent we are from a god. While St. Albert spent his life showing how dependent we are on God. St. Albert did this by using his knowledge to drive him towards his faith. Too often in our world, we forget about our faith. We forget about God. I believe this is because we view the world very scientifically. What I mean by this is that we look at the world as if it is made up of falseable components, in that each part has to be proved or disproved by evidence. This begins to have problems because today's scientists and experts would tell us that modern science proves living a life of faith is not possible because faith and science have to be separate. However, how can we separate the crucifix from faith? The crucifix is a perfect example of the mingling of faith and knowledge. We can study the medical science of each of Jesus’s wounds and understand to what extent He suffered. But then we have our faith enriching that knowledge by reminding us that He suffered for our sins. In this way, faith elevates knowledge.

St. Albert the Great is proof that living a life of faith is not scientific because faith is not a substitute for knowledge. Rather, faith is an indispensable aspect of all knowledge. As our knowledge grows, our faith should likewise grow. Imagine a tree. A tree's highest branches can only grow as high as the roots are deep. Similarly, our knowledge can only ascend as high as our faith is rooted in God. Faith does not disprove our knowledge of the known universe. You can’t have faith that the universe is flat, because it's scientifically not. Faith cannot create realities, faith is not some heroic defiance of the world of facts. It’s important to realize that faith in itself is not its own end, faith leads us towards God.

The faith we are called to believe is the faith that establishes God as its one and only goal. Toward this goal, our knowledge and our faith must work together. We must allow our faith in Jesus crucified, died, and resurrected to drive and elevate our knowledge. Otherwise, we are allowing the world to turn our head away from our goal and ultimately lead us away from God.

Today, St. Albert is the example for us that knowledge and faith are inseparable. We can’t use faith to disprove knowledge or knowledge to disprove faith. St. Albert didn’t let politics or opinions hinder his life of faith. He taught and preached as a true Dominican friar, not for some argument, but simply to lead souls to live a life of faith focused on God.