Calendar Class of August 14, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Carpe Amicas! A late night tea party was followed by a late morning tea party by these four sleepy girlfriends following an annual summertime slumber party, during which little slumber was had by anyone, including yours truly. But that's what the season is all about!

Liturgical: Thursday of the 19th Week of Ordinary Time

Matthew 18:21–19:1

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

From Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today: Here is the spiritual heart of the matter: Whatever anyone owes you (in strict justice) is infinitely less than what God has graciously given to you; the divine forgiveness you have received is infinitely greater than any forgiveness you might be called upon to offer.

Becoming an instrument of God’s life, grace, forgiveness, and peace is what it is all about. Allow to flow through you what has been poured into you—that is the whole story.

Sanctoral: Maximilian Mary Kolbe (January 8, 1894 – August 14, 1941)

Father Kolbe’s death was not a sudden, last-minute act of heroism. His whole life had been a preparation. His holiness was a limitless, passionate desire to convert the whole world to God. And his beloved Immaculata was his inspiration.

Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe is a Patron Saint of: Addicts, Recovery from drug addiction.

A video bio.

Human: 29 BC – Gaius Octavian celebrates his triumph in Rome after winning the campaign against the Dalmatians.

1040 AD King Duncan I of Scotland is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth, who succeeds him as king (not murdered in his sleep as in Shakespeare's play).

1281 During Kublai Khan's second Mongol invasion of Japan, his invading Chinese fleet of 3,500 vessels disappears in a typhoon near the Japanese coast.

1945 V-J Day, the Empire of Japan surrenders unconditionally to the Allies, ending World War II (August 15 in Japan and other countries depending on the time zone).

1947 Pakistan gains independence from the United Kingdom.

1969 British Army deploys on the streets of Northern Ireland, beginning Operation Banner.

1980 17,000 workers strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, beginning the Solidarity movement.

Natural: U.S. satellite Explorer VI transmitted the first picture of Earth from space – 1959

The biggest blackout in U.S. history, affecting some 50 million people, engulfed New York City, Albany, Hartford, Toronto, Ottawa, Detroit, Cleveland and Ontario – 2003

Italian: Telecomando (remote control)

Book of the Day: The Wizard of Mecosta: Russell Kirk, Gothic Fiction, and the Moral Imagination by Camilo Peralta 

Quote: “My beloved, may every fall, even if it is serious and habitual sin, always become for us a small step toward a higher degree of perfection. In fact, the only reason why the Immaculate permits us to fall is to cure us from our self-conceit, from our pride, to make us humble and thus make us docile to the divine graces. The devil, instead, tries to inject in us discouragement and internal depression in those circumstances, which is, in fact, nothing else than our pride surfacing again. If we knew the depth of our poverty, we would not be at all surprised by our falls, but rather astonished, and we would thank God, after sinning, for not allowing us to fall even deeper and still more frequently.”

--St. Maximilian Kolbe (more beautiful quotes here)