Readings for the Day:
Original Manuscript:
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Back in 451 A.D., the church was struggling with the issue of who Jesus is. Is Jesus as the Messiah simply a great man who God rose up to glory for the good of us all? Is Jesus, as the Son of God, a new hybrid being as fusion of God and Human?
Or is Jesus simply God come down in human form to be one of us and to thus reconcile us to Him? This last question is a very simply put explanation of what Leo, utilizing the understandings of those who came before him in the church, wrote down. Leo's Tome became the foundation of what the church would set to define about Jesus’s nature at the Council of Chalcedon. This definition remains with us to this day, and it is the first of the Historical Documents you can find in the back of The Book of Common Prayer.
Leo's work is important because it helps us realize the full glory of what God did in our Lord Jesus Christ. God didn't appoint someone among us. God didn't create an entirely new being. God in the fullness of Himself came down to be a fellow human being and walk among us. He did this out of a desire to bring us back into relationship with Himself. He became one of us in the fullness of His Being to help make us whole again.
Leo's work in helping us understand this fact of our Faith aids us in seeing God's work with us in this world. It allows us to deepen our relationship with our Lord who deeply desires to connect with us. For this, we can truly say, "Thanks be to God!"