November 10, 2009
Memorial of St. Leo the Great
By Beth DeCristofaro
God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made them. But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it. … Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect. (Wisdom 2:23,24, 3:9)
Jesus said to the Apostles: "When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” (Luke 17:10)
Piety
Learn to savor how good the LORD is; happy are those who take refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you holy ones; nothing is lacking to those who fear him.
The powerful grow poor and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Who among you loves life, takes delight in prosperous days?
Keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
The LORD has eyes for the just and ears for their cry. (Psalm 34: 9-16)
Study
To be glad in the God-given goodness of life and to be who we are – servants of God – seems to be all that is asked of us in these readings. In the ancient Wisdom literature, it is proclaimed that God made humans to be as god’s nature. That is an immense gift and responsibility in one, calling one to be true to that nature. And Jesus tells his friends that we belong to God thus doing as God wishes is as much as we need to do; i.e., our obligation is rooted in who we are and to whom we belong. Doing our own will thwarts this obligation.
Of course, this isn’t always easy, but if we look at ourselves closely and honestly we can see for whom we do what we do. Is it God our Master? Is it another master which we unwittingly (or perhaps more obviously) have chosen? Is it ourselves? Today is also the memorial of St. Leo the Great. St. Leo indeed stands out as a phenomenally gifted man: political leader, teacher, holy priest and pope. I must say, I cannot envision myself called to personally turn away a ruthless invader from my city as St. Leo did when Attila the Hun threatened Rome. In fact, I hope that I am never called to such a deed. But Jesus is pretty clear that we are, instead, called to the ordinary duties of being ourselves, children of God, and all the obligations which this entails: love of God and love of neighbor. St. Leo was called to save a city, we are called to live in love and not to live in fear. It is our duty and our joy because of the nature of God which resides within us. As the psalmist says: nothing is lacking to those who fear (God).
Action
In Sunday’s Tripod Fr. Joe McClosky said something which is also very meaningful to today’s reflection: “Giving Back to God what he has given us is giving back to God what we are able to do. It includes so much more than extraordinary actions because it makes special the little things of every day. It is the ‘Hidden Life’ of grace of Christ come alive in our own lives when we do the little things of our life with great love.”
What little things do you do with great love? How does fear or the service of another master keep you from loving?
