For I will not dare to speak of anything
except what Christ has accomplished through me
to lead the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,
by the power of signs and wonders,
by the power of the Spirit of God,
so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum
I have finished preaching the Gospel of Christ.
Wikipedia has an article about Illyricum, which was "the area roughly corresponding to part or all of the territories of today's Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia." It was a rough, troublesome country with mountainous terrain and uncivilized people. The article records many wars and much upheaval during the Roman era. Despite its savagery, Saint Paul carried the Good News of Jesus into the region. He wanted everyone to know the Lord.
The feast day of a pope, and of Pope Leo in particular, also reminds us of the earthly nature of Jesus's mission. If the Gospel seems simple its presentation and history is necessarily complex. confusing, and contextual. The fact that it must be announced in a human language when languages themselves are fluid mediums leads us into its mysterious nature. What is -- in simple language if you please! -- this Gospel that excites you so much?
Saint Paul says, "For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me..." because his own biography is somehow enmeshed in the message. Given his enormous presence in the New Testament, and his influence throughout our history, no one who loves the Lord should want to escape the Apostle. To know the Lord we must know him!
Pope Saint Leo might be less influential than Saint Paul but he played his part. His intervention at the Council of Chalcedon -- which he attended by way of emissaries -- reset the Church firmly on its sacramental foundations. Where the monophysitists would have flown into an outer space of good feelings and vague ideas, Pope Leo pointed to their error and forced them to return to the Gospel or depart and create their own separate churches. (But like any good heresy, monophysitism persists to this day.)
As the Church ponders the first session of the Synod on Synodality under Pope Francis, and prepares for a second meeting next year, its many races, languages, and identity groups will absorb the experience of the first month-long session. Attendees will remember the reactions and remarks of new friends from faraway places as they explain their own recently revised opinions.
Many conservatives and liberals will not be as conservative or liberal. They will remember how they met the Lord in the person of complete strangers and responded with affection for them. They might speak for their new friends as they explain the thoughts of Asians, Africans, or Micronesians to their Indiana friends. In some cases their friends will react, "Why should I care what Micronesians think?" and they will have to summon again the Spirit of Synodality.
No one ever promised it is easy to belong to Christ. No one ever said you needn't think long and deep about what God wants of us. Life is not easy, nor should it be. Rather, we welcome the Spirit of Saints Paul and Leo which embraces us, bucks us up, and sends us back into the conversation.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.