11/10/14 Pope St. Leo the Great, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (400?-461) It is appropriate to celebrate the feast of St Leo following the feast of the dedication of St John Lateran. That church building had quite a battered history, being destroyed and rebuilt many times. Leo was the first to rebuild the church after Vandals ransacked and stripped it in 458. He is known as one of the best papal administrators, combining concern for the structures of Church policy and the deep spiritual insight required to do so with faith (we read one of his homilies at Christmas in the Office of Readings). He helped to resolve a number of heresies plaguing the Church in the East and the West, and was known in his own day as a most eloquent preacher of the Word. He reminds us, as do all saints of the depth of the reach of the Incarnation. God becomes human, and thus the activity of our lives is a conduit of divine life. We are not angels for whom the physical is of no import. Nor are we practicalists for whom the demands of life are the only essential task. Rather, like Leo, we approach each duty of life with the lifeblood of belief, and the wonder that God is at work in us, and in the world, beginning with our day, right now.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 13:31:44 +0000
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