Today is the Feast Day of Leo the Great
Today is the Feast Day of Leo the Great
Picture this: Rome on the brink of invasion, and who stands in the gap? None other than Pope Leo himself, meeting Attila the Hun face-to-face. This bravery should be noted since Attila the Hun created sheer terror and havoc across the world. Through aggressive military campaigns, he rapidly expanded his empire's reach. His armies were notorious for unchecked pillaging, indiscriminate killing, and unbridled brutality towards conquered peoples. In our Western imagination, his name remains synonymous with unchecked violence and barbarity—he is the embodiment of ruthless conquest and cruelty. Leo stood up to this because of courage and as shepherd to his people, he safeguarded them no matter the cost.
But Leo's legacy isn't just about his diplomatic prowess. He was a theological giant. His insights into the nature of Christ — both God and man — helped guide the early Church on a path of true understanding. Leo had a gift for unraveling deep theological concepts, making them accessible to everyone. Consider his role at the pivotal Church Council at Chalcedon (451AD). Though he did not attend in person, his influence was profoundly felt through his letter and instruction to Flavian, the Bishop of Constantinople. In this document he affirmed that Christ is one person with two natures — fully divine and fully human. His contributions at this council were crucial in guiding the Church's understanding of Christology, helping to resolve the theological controversies of that time and laying a foundational doctrine that continues to influence Christian theology to this day.
If you have not read his Sermon on the Nativity, it is worth reading since it is a masterpiece that draws us into the heart of God's love, showing us the divine miracle of God becoming man. I have included it below.
Pope Leo the Great, pray for us!
From a sermon of Saint Leo the Great, pope
The special obligations of our ministry
Although the universal Church of God is constituted of distinct orders of members, still, in spite of the many parts of its holy body, the Church subsists as an integral whole, just as the Apostle says: We are all one in Christ. No difference in office is so great that anyone can be separated, through lowliness, from the head. In the unity of faith and baptism, therefore, our community is undivided. There is a common dignity, as the apostle Peter says in these words: And you are built up as living stones into spiritual houses, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And again: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart.
For all, regenerated in Christ, are made kings by the sign of the cross; they are consecrated priests by the oil of the Holy Spirit, so that beyond the special service of our ministry as priests, all spiritual and mature Christians know that they are a royal race and are sharers in the office of the priesthood. For what is more king-like than to find yourself ruler over your body after having surrendered your soul to God? And what is more priestly than to promise the Lord a pure conscience and to offer him in love unblemished victims on the altar of one’s heart?
Because, through the grace of God, it is a deed accomplished universally on behalf of all, it is altogether praiseworthy and in keeping with a religious attitude for you to rejoice in this our day of consecration, to consider it a day when we are especially honored. For indeed one sacramental priesthood is celebrated throughout the entire body of the Church. The oil which consecrates us has richer effects in the higher grades, yet it is not sparingly given in the lower.
Sharing in this office, my dear brethren, we have solid ground for a common rejoicing; yet there will be more genuine and excellent reason for joy if you do not dwell on the thought of our unworthiness. It is more helpful and more suitable to turn your thoughts to study the glory of the blessed apostle Peter. We should celebrate this day above all in honor of him. He overflowed with abundant riches from the very source of all graces, yet though he alone received much, nothing was given over to him without his sharing it. The Word made flesh lived among us, and in redeeming the whole human race, Christ gave himself entirely.
From a sermon of Saint Leo the Great, pope - Christmas Day
Christian, remember your dignity
Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.
No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.
In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God’s wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common humanity in order to reconcile it with its creator. He came to overthrow the devil, the origin of death, in that very nature by which he had overthrown mankind.
And so at the birth of our Lord the angels sing in joy: Glory to God in the highest, and they proclaim peace to men of good will as they see the heavenly Jerusalem being built from all the nations of the world. When the angels on high are so exultant at this marvelous work of God’s goodness, what joy should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men?
Beloved, let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sins he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all its ways and, as we have come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh.
Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom.
Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil, for your liberty was bought by the blood of Christ.
Today’s Mass Collect
O God, who never allow the gates of hell to prevail against your Church, firmly founded on the apostolic rock, grant her, we pray, that through the intercession of Pope Saint Leo, she may stand firm in your truth and know the protection of lasting peace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.