Memorial of Saint Albert the Great, bishop and doctor of the Church
(Revelation 1:1-4.2:1-5; Luke 18:35-43)
It is one thing to see, but quite another to see with insight. A trainee can look at human tissue through a microscope, but a biologist names the different kinds of cells she sees. A fifth-grader can read a racing form, but a handicapper will more often than not pick winners.
In the gospel today Jesus enables a blind man to see, but the man sees more in Jesus than a healer. He recognizes him as a savior to be followed forever. Similarly, St. Albert the Great, whose feast we celebrate today, was an authority of his time on fauna and fossa, but his greater achievement perhaps was recognizing the glory of God in nature.
