Sunday, April 21 : Saint Leo the Great

It is He Who, born of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost, fertilizes His pure Church with the same blessed Spirit, that by the birth of Baptism an innumerable multitude of sons may be born to God, of Whom it is said, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13) . It is He, in Whom the seed of Abraham is blessed by the adoption of the whole world (Genesis 22:18), and the patriarch becomes the father of nations by the birth, through faith not flesh, of the sons of promise. It is He Who, without excluding any nation, makes one flock of holy sheep from every nation under heaven, and daily fulfils what He promised, saying, Other sheep also I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16) . For though to the blessed Peter first and foremost He says, Feed My sheep ; yet the one Lord directs the charge of all the shepherds, and feeds those that come to the rock with such glad and well-watered pastures, that countless sheep are nourished by the richness of His love, and hesitate not to perish for the Shepherd’s sake, even as the good Shepherd Himself was content to lay down His life for His sheep.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team