St. Leo the Great

Today, November 10^th, is the Roman Catholic Church’s memorial of the fifth-century Pope Saint Leo I, known as “St. Leo the Great.” Reigning for over two decades, he sought to preserve the unity of the Church and to ensure the safety of his people against frequent barbarian invasions.

Leo used his authority against a number of heresies troubling the Western church – including how many Eastern Christians had begun arguing about the relationship between Jesus’ humanity and divinity.

Pope Leo urged the gathering of an ecumenical council to resolve the matter. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Pope Leo’s teaching was received as so authoritative by the Eastern bishops that they proclaimed: “Peter has spoken through the mouth of Leo.”

Leo’s teaching confirmed that Christ’s eternal divine personhood and nature did not absorb or negate the human nature that he assumed in time through the Incarnation. Instead, “the proper character of both natures was maintained and came together in a single person. It is one and the same Son of God who exists in both natures, taking what is ours to Himself without losing what is His own.”

In 452, one year after the Council of Chalcedon, Pope Leo led a delegation which successfully negotiated with the barbarian king Attila to prevent an invasion of Rome. However, he was not as successful with the Vandal leader Gaiseric who ended up ransacking the city.

Thanks to Leo, the Church not only survived the collapse of Rome but was able to emerge as one of the strongest institutions of the medieval world.

As we reflect on these final days of the church year with all of its emphasis on the end times in our scripture readings, we shouldn’t get bogged down in the doom, gloom, and anxiety of what might happen (especially if we look at what just occurred in our recent election).

Rather, these days should be a time of hope for us as we realize that the Kingdom of God is already at work in our world today and within each one of us. Let us remember that we are called to be disciples: to carry the message of the Gospel to everyone we meet and to serve Christ by serving others. If we can focus our energy on doing this, we will discover that the Kingdom is already here. It’s not the end of the world as we know it, but just the beginning.