St. Albert the Great
Albertus Magus is in trouble with the Prior. In a fit of experimental zeal, he's taken some of the brothers' beer and fed it to a snake. The inebriated serpent escapes Albert's cell and is terrorizing the less scientifically studious friars by flopping around like a...well...like a drunken snake. For the sake of weak hearts and a calmer convent, the Prior forbids any future experiments with alcohol and snakes. You may have heard this story before. I told it last year on this feast to defend Albert against charges of curiositas. I tell it again this year to highlight the effects of seeking wisdom – namely, joy and gladness. Sirach promises, “Happy those who meditate on Wisdom, and fix their gaze on knowledge...Whoever fears the Lord will do this; whoever is practiced in the Law will come to Wisdom...Joy and gladness he will find, an everlasting name he will inherit.” Now, we can't say that Albert's confreres found joy and gladness in his pursuit of wisdom. Nor can we say from this single event that Albert himself did. We can say that he eventually found the Wisdom he sought his whole life and that's sufficient for us to conclude that he was and is joyful and glad. That we celebrate his feast today is enough to know that he has inherited an everlasting name. Seek Wisdom, know gladness and joy!
How do we seek Wisdom? Sirach suggests a sequence: meditate on Wisdom as an object; fix your gaze on knowledge; fear the Lord; and practice the Law. The last two steps in this sequence don't sound like things a seeker of Wisdom and knowledge would do. Fear the Lord. Practice the Law. How exactly do these help in the acquisition of Wisdom? Fearing the Lord, meaning (of course) standing in awe of God, guarantees that the seeker is properly humble as a creature. That is, that the seeker is aware of and lives as one of the Lord's creations and not as a detached observer outside of creation. Self-knowledge is as important to the seeker as Other-knowledge will ever be. Practicing the Law. Here Sirach means following the Mosaic Law, following God's revealed plan for human perfection. As followers of Christ, we take this to mean following the Law of Love: love God and our neighbors as ourselves. Following this law not only keeps the seeker humble but it also ensures that whatever else he/she does they do it for the good of the other. IOW, there is no such thing as “self-serving Wisdom.” Wisdom is, by nature, communal, constructive, and peaceable. So, where is the joy and gladness?
Albert's best student, Thomas Aquinas, teaches us that joy and gladness are effects of love. Love causes joy and gladness. And what better source of love than Wisdom, God Himself who is Love. As the highest cause of all things, God is the object of our search for Wisdom. Find God, find Wisdom. Albert knew this when he searched the Lord's created things, looking for their cause. He knew that studying creatures revealed their Creator. He found in them the logos of the Real. Their reason for being, a created order that ordered them to their given end. And he knew that that logos is Christ. We don't celebrate Albert this morning b/c he was a genius biologist, or a great botanist. We don't celebrate him b/c he was a renowned teacher and preacher. We celebrate him b/c he loved God, found Wisdom, and shared the fruits of his contemplation with his brothers and sisters. For the short time that we are here, revealing to self and others the glory of Christ – that's joy and gladness.
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