USING THE  WORD “GREAT”

 
The title of my talk is “Great!”
 
Today – November 10^th - is the feast of Pope Leo the Great – one of the three popes – called, “Great.”
 
The three popes are: Leo, Gregory, and Nicholas.
 
There might be a fourth, John Paul II.  But time will tell if that becomes true.
 
History takes time. There are lots of things said at the time of a funeral – that those who lived with the person who died – know this is just the much and the fuss at the time of death.
 
The name “great” for a pope has never been an official title.  It comes by popular acclaim. That’s the way saints used to be named – and popes were called up from the community.  Canonizations and conclaves came later on.
 
THE WORD “GREAT”
 
The word “great” is used by all of us many times  - perhaps once a week or for some once a day.
 
It was a great movie.
 
It was a great meal.
 
I heard a great joke last night.
 
It was a great game.
 
The quarterback through a great pass.
 
It was a great victory.
 
We had two Redemptorists whose nickname became, “Great!” Great Kelly and Great Kelly – 2 different guys.
 
POPE  LEO THE GREAT
 
Pope Leo is the first of three greats.
 
His dates as pope were 440 to 461.
 
He met Augustine. I thought that was an interesting notice as I read up about Leo last night.
 
While deacon he served two popes as a deacon. Celestine 1^st and Sixtus III.
 
Today’s gospel Luke 17: 7-10 we hear about servants.  May we all be great servants.
 
As I read Leo’s life, I saw that he  was into fighting all kinds of heresies – and he did well in those challenges.
 
He got the Council of Chalcedon in 451 to declare that Christ has 2 natures: human and divine. The fights and disagreements on how Christ was Christ – that took a lot of theological struggles. Chalcedon goes down as a great council for Christ!

He also pushed the Catholic position of seeing that the pope in Rome - takes the place of Peter - and the scripture messages of Peter as head of the Church continues in each pope. 
 
Leo, as head of the city and state of Rome, had to deal with great struggles with outsiders. In 452 he met Attila the Hun and saved Rome from being sacked and burnt. In 455 he met the head of the Vandals, Genseric, who invaded Rome but Leo at least saved the great church buildings of Rome from being burnt - vandalized by them
 
CONCLUSION
 
That’s enough. Some think a sermon was great, because it was short.
 
So, this has been a few short comments on why  Leo was called, “Great!”
 
We’ll save Gregory the Great [590-604] and Nicholas the Great [858-867] for another day.
 
In the meanwhile, may we be great. Great human beings. Great friends. Great Christians.