From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    Jesus the Good Shepherd changes wolves into sheep   
      
   "How then does [Jesus] command the holy apostles, who are innocent men   
   and 'sheep,' to seek the company of wolves, and go to them of their   
   own will? Is not the danger apparent? Are they not set up as ready   
   prey for their attacks? How can a sheep prevail over a wolf? How can   
   one so peaceful conquer the savageness of beasts of prey? 'Yes,' he   
   says, 'for they all have me as their Shepherd: small and great, people   
   and princes, teachers and students. I will be with you, help you, and   
   deliver you from all evil. I will tame the savage beasts. I will   
   change wolves into sheep, and I will make the persecutors become the   
   helpers of the persecuted. I will make those who wrong my ministers to   
   be sharers in their pious designs. I make and unmake all things, and   
   nothing can resist my will.'"   
    by Cyril of Alexandria (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 61)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   24 October – Blessed Giuseppe Baldo   
   (Also known as Joseph Baldo)   
      
    Priest and Founder of both the Little Daughters of Saint Joseph   
   (1894) and the Sisters of Charity of Saint Mary (1882), Apostle of   
   Charity, Founder of numerous charitable institutions – born on 19   
   February 1843 in Puegnago, Brescia, Italy and died on 24 October 1915   
   (aged 72) in Ronco all’Adige, Verona, Italy of natural causes. He is   
   the Patron of his Orders and of Ronco all’Adige.   
      
   Giuseppe Baldo was born in Brescia on 19 February 1843 as the sixth of   
   nine children to the farmer Angelo Baldo and his wife, the midwife   
   Ippolita Casa, six of the Baldo’s nine children died as infants. He   
   was Baptised on 20 February in the parish church of Saint Michael the   
   Archangel by Fr Domenico Ottini.   
   He commenced his studies for the priesthood in Verona on 7 December   
   1858 and had excellent results in all of his studies. The Bishop of   
   Verona, Luigi di Canossa ordained him to the priesthood on the Feast   
   of the Assumption, 15 August 1865 after he had received a special   
   papal dispensation, from Pope Pius IX, as he was much younger than the   
   rules required.   
      
   He spent a year as assistant priest in the suburban parish of   
   Montorio, after which he was called by his bishop to carry out the   
   prestigious role of vice president of the Verona Bishopric, where he   
   remained for 11 years as an appreciated educator and spiritual   
   director.  Feeling inspired to devote himself to a broader apostolate,   
   he asked and obtained permission to be sent as the parish priest to   
   Ronco all’Adige, Verona, where he remained until his death. He took   
   possession of his parish on 17 November 1877 but he was immediately   
   opposed by the Mafia and Freemasons, who threatened to kill him if he   
   displayed any public religious ceremonies.   
      
   In 1882 Blessed Guiseppe established a new religious congregation, the   
   Sisters of Charity of Saint Mary. In 1888, he decided to found another   
   order to administer and run the  kindergarten and the canteen he had   
   established for malnourished children. He also opened a hospital   
   called “Casa Ippolita” in 1888 and in 1893 he founded a shelter for   
   older people. On 21 November 1894 he founded the Little Daughters of   
   Saint Joseph while the first ten postulants received their habits on   
   24 June 1896 from the Bishop of Verona, Cardinal Luigi di Canossa. The   
   first seven female religious made their profession into the order on   
   25 June 1897.   
      
   The first superior appointed was not Baldo but rather Sr Clementina   
   Forante who managed the congregation from 1864 until 1928. The order   
   received diocesan approval on 3 May 1895 while receiving the Papal   
   decree from St Pope Pius X on 10 February 1913 and full Papal approval   
   – after Baldo’s death – from Pope Pius XII on 3 April 1940.   
      
   Blessed Giuseppe spent 38 years of such intense and zealous charitable   
   and spiritual work in his Parish and the surrounds, often being   
   threatened and abused by the local gangsters but he carried on, with   
   total trust in the love and power of God. He died on 24 October 1915   
   after 22 months of a long and painful illness. His remains were   
   transferred to the Motherhouse of the congregation on 7 September   
   1950. His orders now operate in Georgia, Kenya, Uganda, Italy and   
   Rwanda amongst other places and  as of 2005 there were 405 religious   
   in 68 houses.   
      
   At the end of the canonical process, on 26 January 1987 Blessed   
   Giuseppe received the recognition of the heroic nature of his virtues.   
   And two years later, on 31 October 1989, he was raised to the altars   
   with the title of Blessed at St Peter’s by St Pope John Paul II.   
      
   By Anastpaul 2017   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Not only do they offend thee, O Lady, who outrage thee, but thou art   
   also offended by those who neglect to ask thy favors . . . He who   
   neglects the service of the Blessed Virgin will die in his sins . . .   
   He who does not invoke thee, O Lady, will never get to Heaven . . .   
   Not only will those from whom Mary turns her countenance not be saved,   
   but there will be no hope of their salvation . . . No one can be saved   
   without the protection of Mary.   
   --Saint Bonaventure, Cardinal-Bishop and Doctor of the Church   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and   
   the stars you set firm--what are human beings that you spare a thought   
   for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him? Yet you have   
   made him a little less than a god, you have crowned him with glory and   
   beauty, and made him lord of the works of your hands, put all things   
   under his feet..." Psalm 8:3-6   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The easy roads are crowded,   
   And the level roads are jammed;   
   The pleasant little rivers   
   With the drifting folks are crammed,   
   But off yonder where it's rocky,   
   Where you get a better view,   
   You will find the ranks are thinning   
   And the travelers are few.   
   Where the going's smooth and pleasant   
   You will always find the throng,   
   For the many, more's the pity,   
   Seem to like to drift along.   
   But the steps that call for courage   
   And the task that's hard to do,   
   In the end results in glory   
   For the never-wavering few.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)