On this day in Church History...

...Pope Leo XIII died in 1903.

Why is this important to me?

1) Last semester, I read his famous encyclical Rerum Novarum in my class on Modern Christian Philosophers.
2) When St. Therese of Lisieux asked him for permission to enter the Carmel, he told her to be obedient to the decision of the superiors. As she persisted, he finally told her, "Go...go...you will enter if God wills it." (episode recounted in her Story of a Soul)
3) He was gloriously reigning as the Successor of Peter during the first two decades of Angelo Roncalli's (future Pope John XXIII) life.
4) Among others, he beatified Margaret Pole, Edmund Campion, Gerard Majella, John Baptist de la Salle, Louis de Montfort, and Thomas More. He also canonized many saints, including Bede the Venearable, Benedict Joseph Labre, John Baptist de la Salle, John Berchmans, Lawrence of Brindisi (whose day is tomorrow!), Peter Claver, and Rita of Cascia.
5) See the page on Pope Leo XIII at Saints.spqn.com for more information...
6) I need to learn more about the history of the Papacy, especially in the last century!

Here's an interesting suggestion:

Don Angelo Roncalli (later known as Bl. Pope John XXIII) "wished to follow his spiritual father and superior among the Priests of the Sacred Heart, who always loved to repeat, 'Let us go...with our heads in the sack of Divine Providence.'" (from Mario Benigni and Goffredo Zanchi. John XXIII: The Official Biography, p.105)

Oh, to seek only to do the will of God, and to learn to see things aright:  to be able to discern and believe with our whole hearts that everything that we experience in this life takes place in accord with God's plan of love and mercy for us...yes, I want to live with my head in the "sack of Divine Providence," too!

...Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!

Challenge of the Day

 Bl. John XXIII on imitating the saints:

 "God wants us to follow the examples of the saints, assimilate the vital substance of their virtues, convert it into our own blood, and adapt it to our own unique habits and special circumstances." -Mario Benigni and Goffredo Zanchi's John XXIII, the Official Biography (quoting Bl. John's journal)
follow...assimilate...convert*...adapt...Got it! (um, a little help here, please!) Only by grace, so I pray,
Lord, thank you for the example of your saints, blesseds, and all the holy men and women who have walked your way before us. Help us to follow their example and put their virtues into practice according to your will for our lives. Amen.

*there's that word again...convert. metanoia. conversatio morum. I cannot be the same today as I was yesterday. Onward and upward...