Optional
Memorial of Saint Albert the Great, bishop
(I Maccabees
1:10-15.41-43.54-57.62-63; Luke 18:35-43)
A blind man
enjoyed telling people that he could see.
He did not mean literally but figuratively. The people would explain something to him,
and he would say “I see” to indicate that he understood what they were
saying. In this sense the blind man of
today’s gospel sees very well.
The blindman of the gospel sees who Jesus is. He is
the “Son of David,” the royal Messiah endowed with the gift of healing. He can take away physical ailments like
blindness as well as spiritual ailments like sin. Restored with physical sight, the man wisely
follows Jesus to eternal life.
Today’s
patron saint, Albert the Great, possessed such spiritual insight. He could see that his student, Thomas
Aquinas, was a theologian of exceptional brilliance. When Thomas’ classmates called him a “dumb ox,”
Albert said that his bellowing one day would resound throughout the world. Indeed, there has never been written a more comprehensive,
coherent, and insightful compendium of theology than Thomas’ Summa
Theologica.
