Calendar Class of August 12, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Carpe ondrata zibethicus! Yesterday we wrapped up our weekly Nature Study Club with Sheila Carroll, checking off a long list of creatures and plants we had discovered at School Section Lake over the course of the past few weeks. Among them was the muskrat, the ondrata zibethicus, which only I had spied as it paddled back and forth between the island and our neighbor's dock, where she constructed a home for her babies. This morning, while the biggest storm of the summer was only just beginning to wane, the girls and I spotted the intrepid mother making her regular commute right in front of us, despite what was happening in the skies above her. She provided me with a momentary reflection on the nature of motherhood, related to a conversation I had with a dear friend the other day about her plans to donate her kidney to her daughter. Motherhood as a living sacrifice is not really just a metaphor, it's a reality.

Liturgical: Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven.

Sanctoral: Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641). St. Jane was a married woman and a mother of seven children from Dijon, France. Her husband was killed in a hunting accident. In 1604, upon being deeply moved by the preaching of Francis de Sales, Jane asked him to become her spiritual director. She founded the Visitation nuns in 1610. Jane worked tirelessly helping the sick, and she convinced local political rulers to make special provisions for the sick and the bereaved. During the last years of her life, she experienced periods of spiritual aridity. She established eighty-five monasteries before her death in 1641.

It may strike some as unusual that a saint should be subject to spiritual dryness, darkness, interior anguish. We tend to think that such things are the usual condition of “ordinary” sinful people. Some of our lack of spiritual liveliness may indeed be our fault. But the life of faith is still one that is lived in trust, and sometimes the darkness is so great that trust is pressed to its limit.

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal is a Patron Saint of Mothers, Widows, Wives.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Euplius (d. 304), a deacon, under Emperors Diocletian and Maximian was tortured for the crime of possessing a copy of the Gospels. His copy of the Scriptures was taken when he was arrested. He was asked in court if he had any other copies, and he began to recite them from memory. He was flogged and beheaded in 304 A.D.

Human: 30 BC – Cleopatra VII, the last queen of Egypt from the Ptolemy dynasty, committed suicide. Earlier, Mark Antony had done the same thing. Cleopatra undertook actions to preserve the independence of the kingdom. However, the negotiations with Octavian did not bring successful results.

3 AD Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter on August 12, 3 BC, a popular theory for the biblical "Star of Bethlehem."

1099 AD The Battle of Ascalon is won by the Crusader army led by Godfrey of Bouillon against the Fatimid forces and is the last action of the First Crusade.

1164 Battle of Harim: Nur ad-Din defeats the Crusader armies of the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.

1323 Treaty of Nöteborg between Sweden and Novgorod (Russia) regulates the border for the first time.

1336 AD English King Edward III bans wool export to Flanders and later grants a company of merchants a monopoly on selling wool in attempt to maximise taxes.

1480 AD Ottoman troops conquer Otranto in southern Italy after a 15-day siege, killing 12,000, enslaving 5,000, and beheading 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam.

Natural: All about the muskrat--Muskrats belong to the genus, Ondatra, which is an Indian word meaning 'muskrat. ' They are the only species within that genus and their species name is Ondatra zibethicus. A fun fact for you… the word zibethicus is Latin for 'musky odor,' which seems to be a good descriptor (remember they release a musky scent).

Italian: Broncio (pout / sulky expression)

Book of the Day: Thundercake by Patricia Polacco! Every single time there is a big thunder and lightning storm in summer in Michigan, the girls beg to make "Thundercake." Fortunately today, they already had a baking appointment with our expert baker neighbor Dianne, so they made "thunder cookies" instead!

Quote: "We do not apply ourselves to the true and solid interior virtues. We apply ourselves too much to the exterior. I do not mean to say that we should not practice and esteem the latter, but the interior ones are more precious to us."

— St. Jeanne de Chantal

“Now my dearest daughter, lovingly look upon all these little creatures as entrusted to you by God, who has given them to you; care for them, cherish them tenderly, and bring them up not in vanity, but faithfully in the fear of God. So doing, and trustfully leaving all these anxieties of yours to divine Providence, you will see how sweetly and tenderly it will provide for all, so that you will have good reason to bless and rely wholly upon it.”

--from a letter from St. Jeanne de Chantal to her daughter regarding motherhood