Today we celebrate the feast of Pope Saint Leo The Great, doctor of the Church.
Pope Leo was elected in 440 at a point in history not too unlike our own: Heresy was rife throughout Christendom, the cultural centers had fallen into immorality and decadence, culture was disintegrating.
Only few Popes are given the title “The Great”, and Leo truly earned his title through both his theological contributions and his skill as a leader.
On the theological side, he had significant merits, including his many excellent and profound sermons and letters. He called the Council of Chalcedon to clarify the Church’s understanding of the relationship between the humanity and divinity of Christ. When the Bishops read his profound explanation, they exclaimed, “Peter has spoken through Leo!” For his theological contributions, Pope Leo was eventually declared a Doctor of the Church.
Leo also showed great leadership in dealing with the administrative problems of the Church. Barbarians were literally beating at the gates of Rome. Pope Leo averted the barbarians by personally confronting Atilla the Hun to persuade him to turn away from plundering the Eternal City. During another barbarian invasion, Leo persuaded the Vandals to avoid sacking the holy churches of Rome.
Being firmly rooted in Christ, Leo protected the Church from heresies and plunder.
Today, the Pope continues this role. Pope Benedict led the church in fighting against moral relativism which has caused a profound crisis in society. Living without reference to God and object moral truth leads to a new barbarism. When we lose reference to God, Benedict said, "the fundamental essentials are at stake: human dignity, human life, the institution of the family and the equity of the social order--in other words the fundamental rights of man."
Pope Francis too has stressed the importance of Christian Faith for society. In his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei, on the Light of Faith, he wrote, “Our culture has lost its sense of God’s tangible presence and activity in our world …the beginning of salvation is openness to something prior to ourselves”
There is an urgent need, Pope Francis says, “to not hide the light of faith under a bushel, but magnify the light through our Christian service, through evangelization, through living by faith openly in the public arena.”
It is a dark and confusing time in which we live. Whenever things get difficult, or cloudy, or confusing, we are to focus on the Truth of Christ and recommit to the life he calls us. We are to give witness to the great freedom we have in Christ, the great freedom that the world longs for, the freedom of the Children of Light.
Through the intercession of Pope St. Leo, may all Christians stand firm in God’s truth and know the protection of his lasting peace for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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