St. Leo

I'm still waiting for St. Patrick to be recognized, as Leo was, as a Father and Doctor of the Church.

Meanwhile, a reflection on the prayer for today's saint--and the Gospel for this Thursday in Ordinary Time. The opening prayer affirms that God "will never allow the gates of hell to triumph" over the Church. Hearing this, I reflected, well, no, because the Church is the Body of Christ, and Jesus has already won the victory. And we, too, insofar as we are (to use St. Paul's phrase) "in Christ and in the Church" are similarly victorious. Today's Gospel was the rather enigmatic "You cannot tell when or where the Kingdom of God is coming; the Kingdom of God is in your midst."

For my class at CTU, we had to read a chapter from von Balthasar on contemplation, and I found his comments dovetailing precisely with this reflection. For Balthasar, the hastening of the victorious coming of Christ happens not though our "building the Kingdom" or establishing a just society on earth: it comes through and because of contemplative prayer. The Kingdom of God, Jesus says, is in your midst. But only contemplatives have eyes to see.

There was something else but I forgot. (Figures!)