Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday 10th November 2022

Pope St Leo the Great died on this day in the year 461. He had been Bishop of Rome for eleven years and was aged just over sixty. He is undoubtedly one of the most important popes in the history of the Church. He lived in turbulent times and did much to unite the whole Church, East and West, to clarify and support the decisions of the great Councils of the Church, especially that of Chalcedon, and to turn the heart of Attila the Hun from invading the Italian peninsula. Today we celebrate his feast day and ask his intercession for the world and the Church today.

 

​In our reading from Luke, (Lk 17: 20-25), Jesus is asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God is to come. He answers them, saying, “The coming of the kingdom of God does not admit of observation and there will be no one to say, ‘Look here! Look there!’ For, you must know, the kingdom of God is among you.” This is a significant answer, for the kingdom of God is not like earthly kingdoms: it has neither beginning nor end, for it is eternal as God is eternal. In fact, where God is, there is the kingdom. Hence, “the kingdom of God is among you.”

 

​He then goes on to tell his disciples, “A time will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man and will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or, ‘Look here!’ Make no move; do not set off in pursuit; for as the lightning flashing from one part of heaven lights up the other, so will be the Son of Man when his day comes. But first he must suffer grievously and be rejected by this generation.”

Here Jesus speaks not of the kingdom but on the days of the Son of Man. The disciples might long to see one of these days, but they will see nothing until the Son of Man suffers grievously and is rejected by this generation. In other words, they must first witness his Passion, Death and Resurrection; only then will be kingdom be inaugurated as far as the children of men are concerned.

 

​Let us pray, through St Leo’s intercession, for patience and humility as we, too, await the coming of God’s reign among us.