Calendar Class of August 25, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Michigan gave us a taste of Fall yesterday, and now we're all hoping August will rapidly recall that it is a Summer month. This is a very nostalgic time of year, when we're already missing the season that is not yet officially passed. There's no stopping the hands of time, so the only thing to do is get outside and enjoy it, whatever the weather. After the Sunday feast (pumpkin soup!), these three were eventually persuaded to bundle up for a stroll to the beach. It was like pulling teeth to get them to embrace the brisk evening air, but I was convicted, after watching a reel by 1000 Hours Outside that very morning, that consistency and encouragement would establish an expectation in the kids that going outside all the time is just what we do. 1000 Hours Outside was created by a Michigander (a homeschooling mom) who knows what it's like to try to get the kids to get outside every day in all four seasons in Michigan's mercurial weather. Check out her podcast in the link at the end.

Liturgical: Monday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

He said to him,

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

Matthew 22:34-40

Sanctoral: St. Genesius of Rome (d. 303 AD), patron saint of comedians, dancers, actors, musicians, printers, and torture victims.

St. Louis IX (1215-1270), who became King of France at the age of twelve, had been religiously brought up by his mother, Blanche of Castile. Throughout his life, he remained deeply devout and as a king, his conduct was that of a real saint. He devoted himself to the affairs of his kingdom and to those of Christendom and was a great peacemaker — kings and princes constantly sought his aid in settling disputes. He was humble and upright, helpful to the needy, and in-person nursed lepers and the sick. St. Louis gave to all the example of a life overflowing with charity and sovereign justice. He was a tertiary of the Order of the Holy Trinity and Captives (the Trinitarians) and a strong supporter of the Franciscan Orders and other mendicant orders as well. A full decade before he died in Tunis, in honor of the King's support and Catholic manner of life, St. Bonaventure proposed to the Franciscans' General Chapter that suffrages be prayed for the King annually (essentially a feast day, as for those already sainted!), the Chapter approved the proposal three years later. Immediately after Louis IX's death, the Franciscans began an active campaign for his canonization, and he was venerated by the Secular Franciscan Order and the Third Order Regular as protector and advocate as soon as he was canonized. He died near Tunis, lying on a bed of ashes, during a crusade for the deliverance of the Holy Land.

St. Joseph Calasanz (1556-1648) was born in Petralta, Aragon, and died in Rome. He studied law and theology and was ordained a priest in 1583. He always showed a great interest in the religious instruction of children, especially of those who were poor and neglected. He journeyed to Rome, became a member of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, and opened a free school for the education of homeless children. In 1602 he founded the Order of Piarists who were to continue this charitable work among youth.

Human: Ancient Rome-- Opiconsivia was celebrated, a festival in honor of Ops Consivia, the Roman goddess of fertility and wealth, also worshiped as the guardian of agriculture. The feast symbolized the end of the harvest, and a similar festival took place on 19 December, when the storage of grain was celebrated. Not infrequently, the feast was also associated with Consus, the keeper of grains and underground containers for storing food (silos). During the festival, the Vestals along with Pontifex Maximus, dressed in white robes and carried a praefericulum – – a bronze bowl for sacrifice, they entered the temple of the deity in Regia. In the old times, the festival took place in the main grain storage location in the capital.

79 AD – Pliny the Elder, Roman commander, writer and philosopher died. He died during the eruption of Vesuvius, when he rushed to help the people as a commander of the squadron of Roman ships. He also wanted to take a closer look at the effects of volcano’s activity. His death was described by Pliny the Younger in the letters to Tacitus. His only work that survived is Naturalis historia (Natural History), a kind of encyclopedia in 37 books (cosmology, geography, botany, physiology, mineralogy, etc.). It is a mine of knowledge and imaginations of Roman times.

Another possible date of Pliny’s death is October 25, if we assume the date of the eruption of Vesuvius as October 24.

Natural: The Spider As Artist-- The Orb Weaver's Web Teaches Us to See Beauty Beyond Design

Etc.: 1000 Hours Podcast

This is the episode with Arthur C. Brooks related to the reel I saw and shared on IG today.

Italian: Insomma (so-so / in short / for goodness sake)

Quote: "It seems paradoxical, but every key ingredient of happiness requires some form of unhappiness".

-- Arthur C. Brooks, author of From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life and The Happiness Files: Insights on Life and Work