Calendar Class of April 28, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Another providential meeting occurred at the Villa Magnolia today when our friend Gabriel brought the author of this book by for a rest during their walk around Rome. Claudia Mariéle Wulf is the author of this book that we are holding, Psychotrauma, When the "I" Shatters: Insights for Victims and their Accompaniers," among other books. A theologian, philosopher, and professor, Mariéle summarized this book as well as her important and original work for me this afternoon, inspiring me to learn more through reading her book. You can find it right here.

Liturgical: Monday of the Second Week of Easter

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:1-8

Sanctoral: Peter Chanel (1803 – April 28, 1841)

Suffering for Christ means suffering because we are like Christ. Very often the opposition we meet is the result of our own selfishness or imprudence. We are not martyrs when we are “persecuted” by those who merely treat us as we treat them. A Christian martyr is one who, like Christ, is simply a witness to God’s love, and brings out of human hearts the good or evil that is already there.

Saint Peter Chanel is the Patron Saint of

Oceania.

Human: Death of Benito Mussolini (Italian dictator) – 1945

238 BC – the temple of the goddess of flowers, Flora, was dedicated near the Circus Maximus. This resulted in a new, three-day, and later six-day, festival called the ludi Florales or Floralia. The festival included games,casual plays, mimes, and dance performances with garlands of flowers.

Natural: Birthday of Eugene Shoemaker (American astrogeologist) – 1928

Soyuz-TM 32 launched, carrying the world’s first space tourist, Dennis Tito, to the International Space Station – 2001

Ashes of actor James Doohan, who portrayed engineer Scotty on Star Trek, and of Apollo 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper soared into space aboard a rocket – 2007

Italian: Gettonato (popular / well-liked)

Quote: "Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going inside ourselves."

Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma