‘If he turns to you seven times in the day, saying, “I repent,” you must forgive him.’
The number 7 crops up over and again in the Bible - and in popular culture. Of course - the week is divided into 7 days. Why might this be? 7 is regarded as a perfect number, complete and sufficient in itself. Our biology means that if you look at a collection of things, up to 7, it is very easy to count and remember them all. One of the many uses of 7 is to indicate time - both a short time, as in '7 days time' and in the sense of a long time ' Ruth waited 7 years for a baby brother'.
The Lord is using 7 here to mean a number of times, to few to be uncountable, but enough to be more than 'just a few'. So we should not ignore a plea for help which comes over and over again. Don't dismiss someone because they are being a persistent nuisance - find out what they need, listen to them, and give help.
Pope St Leo the Great was born in Etruria and became Pope in 440. He was a true shepherd and father of souls. He constantly strove to keep the faith whole and strenuously defended the unity of the Church. He repelled the invasions of the barbarians or alleviated their effects, famously persuading Attila the Hun not to march on Rome in 452, and preventing the invading Vandals from massacring the population in 455.
Leo left many doctrinal and spiritual writings behind and a number of them are included in the Office of Readings to this day. He died in 461.