From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   October 9th - Saint John Leonardi   
      
   After ordination to the priesthood, John Leonardi (1541-1609) gathered a   
   group of laymen to assist him in the care of the sick and to work for the   
   spiritual good of prisoners. Motivated by reforms of the Council of Trent he   
   founded a society of diocesan priests in 1574 to carry out the mandated   
   renewal of the council. The young men who had been assisting him all became   
   priests. The society was later approved as the Clerics Regular of the Mother   
   of God.   
      
   St. John Leonardi was also a preacher of renewal and prompted the religious   
   instruction of the young. In a letter to Pope Paul V he wrote: Nothing   
   should be untried that can train children from early childhood in good   
   morals and in the earnest practice of Christianity. To this end nothing is   
   more effective than pious instructions in Christian doctrine. Children   
   should be entrusted only to good and God-fearing teachers.   
      
   He co-founded a society of priest dedicated to working in foreign missions,   
   which later became the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. St. John   
   Leonardi was also requested by Pope Clement the VII to assist in the renewal   
   and reform of several religious communities.   
      
   His letter to Pope Paul V expresses a desire for genuine reform and   
   spiritual renewal in the Church. He wrote that: "Reform must begin with high   
   and low alike, with superiors and inferiors. Yet the reformers must look   
   first to those who are set over the rest, so that reform can begin at the   
   point from which it may spread to others."   
      
   Then he boldly says that it must begin "with cardinals, patriarchs,   
   archbishops, bishops and priest" who have a particular responsibility to be   
   guides. " Those who want to work for moral reform in the world must seek the   
   glory of God before all else. Because He is the source of all good, they   
   must wait for His help, and pray for it in this difficult and necessary   
   undertaking. They must then present themselves to those they seek to reform,   
   as mirrors of every virtue and as lamps on a lamp stand. Their upright lives   
   and noble conduct must shine before all those who are in the house of God.   
   In this way they will gently entice the members to reform instead of forcing   
   them, lest, in the words of the Council of Trent, they demand of the body   
   what is not found in the head, and thus upset the whole order of the Lord's   
   household." (Letter to Pope Paul V)   
      
   The church has always known the truth of the remark made by Bernard Shaw:   
   The best reformers the world has ever seen are those who commence on   
   themselves." It is an on-going need in the Church and God has always raised   
   up prophets in time of need. We honor St. John Leonardi as one of those   
   prophets.   
      
   St. John Leonardi died in 1609 in Rome after contracting the plague from   
   those to whom he ministered and he was canonized in 1938.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The crosses with which our path through life is strewn associate us with   
   Jesus in the mystery of His crucifixion.   
   -St. John Eudes   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to   
   give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags   
   for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven   
   that no thief can reach nor moth destroy" (Luke 12:32-33).   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Litany of the Mercy of God   
      
   Lord, have mercy on us.   
   Christ, have mercy on us.   
   Lord, have mercy on us.   
   Christ, hear us.   
   Christ, graciously hear us.   
      
   God the Father of heaven,  have mercy on us.   
   God the Son, redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.   
   God the Holy Ghost,  have mercy on us.   
   Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.   
      
   *we trust in Thee!   
      
   Mercy of God, supreme attribute of the Creator, we trust in Thee!   
   Mercy of God, greatest perfection of the Redeemer, *   
   Mercy of God, unfathomable love of the Sanctifier, *   
   Mercy of God, inconceivable mystery of the Holy Trinity, *   
   Mercy of God, expression of the greatest power of the Most High, *   
   Mercy of God, revealed in the creation of the heavenly spirits, *   
   Mercy of God, summoning us to existence out of nothingness, *   
   Mercy of God, embracing the whole universe, *   
   Mercy of God, bestowing upon us immortal life, *   
   Mercy of God, shielding us from merited punishments, *   
   Mercy of God, raising us from the misery of sin, *   
   Mercy of God, justifying us in the Word Incarnate, *   
   Mercy of God, flowing from the wounds of Christ, *   
   Mercy of God, gushing from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, *   
   Mercy of God, giving to us the Most Blessed Virgin Mary as Mother of Mercy,   
   *   
   Mercy of God, shown in the institution of the Holy Sacraments, *   
   Mercy of God, bestowed upon mankind in the Sacraments of Baptism and   
   Penance, *   
   Mercy of God, granted in the Sacraments of the Altar and Priesthood, *   
   Mercy of God, show in calling us to the Holy Faith, *   
   Mercy of God, revealed in the conversion of sinners, *   
   Mercy of God, manifested in the sanctification of the just, *   
   Mercy of God, fulfilled in the perfecting of the saintly, *   
   Mercy of God, font of health for the sick and suffering, *   
   Mercy of God, solace of anguished hearts*   
   Mercy of God, hope of souls afflicted with despair, *   
   Mercy of God, always and everywhere accompanying all people, *   
   Mercy of God, anticipating us with graces, *   
   Mercy of God, peace of the dying, .*   
   Mercy of God, refreshment and relief of souls in Purgatory, *   
   Mercy of God, heavenly delight of the blessed, *   
   Mercy of God, crown of all the saints, *   
   Mercy of God, inexhaustible source of miracles, *   
      
   Lamb of God, Who didst show us Thy greatest mercy in redeeming   
   the world on the cross, spare us O Lord.   
   Lamb of God, Who dost mercifully offer Thyself for us in every Holy Mass,   
   graciously hear us, O Lord.   
   Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, through Thy   
    inexhaustible mercy, have mercy on us.   
      
   Lord, have mercy on us.   
   Christ, have mercy on us.   
   Lord, have mercy on us.   
      
   V. The tender mercies of the Lord are over all His works.   
   R. The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever.   
      
   Let us pray.   
      
   O God, Whose Mercy is infinite and whose treasures of pity are   
   inexhaustible, graciously look down upon us and increase in us Thy Mercy   
   so that we may never, even in the greatest trials, give away to despair, but   
   may always trustfully conform ourselves to Thy Holy Will which is Mercy   
   itself. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Mercy, Who with Thee   
   and the Holy Spirit shows us Mercy for ever and ever. - Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)