Nov 15th - Albert the Great (Magnus)

If we think about the influence our lives have in the world we may (vainly?) wonder as to the effectivity of that influence. Sometimes our lives are a mystery, sometimes they are clear.
Albert is perhaps one of the greatest thinkers of the Medieval Church, and yet he championed not his own thought but that of his student Thomas Aquinas, even after the Thomas' death. I wonder about the devotion and the self-awareness that he exhibited in placing himself second to that of his student.  Did learning the living-for-Christ attitude color his actions? Teaching was his thing, and as any good teacher knows it is the success of our students that makes the difference. I already understand what I teach and that is part of the zeal I have for sharing it; it is seeing truth become part of someone else's life, watching them make it their own and further it that rewards. So I also say that Albert was also one of the greatest teachers of the Church, not just theologically but spiritually.
He may be known as "the Great" but for him it was that his student was greater. It recalls the words of John: "I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire." (Matthew 3:11)

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Now it must be asked if we can comprehend why comets signify the death of magnates and coming wars, for writers of philosophy say so. The reason is not apparent, since vapor no more rises in a land where a pauper lives than where a rich man resides, whether he be king or someone else. Furthermore, it is evident that a comet has a natural cause not dependent on anything else; so it seems that it has no relation to someone’s death or to war. For if it be said that it does relate to war or someone’s death, either it does so as a cause or effect or sign.

— De Cometis