Calendar Class of April 15, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

The end is near! Today, we are spending this rainy Spring afternoon studying for tomorrow's Art and Architecture final exam, and I am enjoying looking over the ladies' Rome journals, such as this one featured in the foreground.

Liturgical: Tuesday of Holy Week

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.

John 13:21-33, 36-38

"After the Resurrection, Peter and the other disciples return to Galilee to work as fishermen again, and there spot Jesus on the far shore. As Jesus draws Peter back into his circle of intimacy, we witness a beautiful act of spiritual direction. Three times the Lord asks Peter whether he loves him, and three times Peter affirms it: “Lord, you know that I love you.”

St. Augustine was the first to comment that the threefold statement of love was meant to counteract the threefold denial. Peter emerges as the archetype of the forgiven and commissioned Church, for after each of his reaffirmations, Peter hears the command to tend the sheep. Once we are brought back into friendship with Jesus, we are called to love those whom he loves."

Sanctoral: Caesar de Bus, France (February 3, 1544 – April 15, 1607)

“Family catechesis” is a familiar term in parish life today. Grounded in the certainty that children learn their faith first from their parents, programs that deepen parental involvement in religious education multiply everywhere. There were no such programs in Caesar’s day until he saw a need and created them. Other needs abound in our parishes, and it’s up to us to respond by finding ways to fill them or by joining in already established efforts.

Human: It's the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci (artist) – 1452! Here's a video in Italian of the young Leonardo in the "Bottega d'Andrea Verrocchio." A friend of mine recently visited the home where he spent his final years in France, Chateau du Clos Luce. Here is some info on Anchiano, a hamlet outside Vinci where he was born, and on his final resting place, and how he ended up there.

One of Leonardo's most famous paintings, The Last Supper, depicts the moment described in today's Gospel reading (John 13:21-33, 36-38): “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot."

55 BC – Ptolemy Neos Dionysos, after overthrowing (thanks to Roman intervention) his daughter Berenice IV, took over power in Egypt. The army, under the command of the Syrian proconsul, Aulus Gabinius (who received 10 000 talents from Ptolemy), defeated Archelaus – Berenice’s husband – who died in a battle. Ptolemy sat on the throne again, and his first step in the second period of his reign was the assassination of Berenice and her supporters.

Natural: Nature Notes-- "The Humble Worm" and "Eating Dirt" by Sheila Carroll. Great reflections on how to better observe and appreciate the muddy season.

Italian: Barare (to cheat)

Quote: A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds.

Etc.: April is National Poetry Month! Living Books Curriculum has put together a lovely guide for enjoying poetry with children called "Poetry Sparks," and this Tea Time Poetry Card. Here is a lovely post by Sheila Carroll on "seeing the wind" and teaching your children about poetic vision.

"Let the child learn a few lines of poetry every day... the gain in the power of concentration, in literary taste, and in intellectual sympathy will be very great."

—Charlotte Mason, Home Education