Calendar Class of August 28, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

As today's quote describes, our lives are like a play written by a hand other than our own, and we, the actors, often don't know our lines, our roles, the entire plot, or even the other players who will appear on stage, and who subsequently affect a change in the whole scene. Such is the case of the birthday boy whose life we celebrated in Onekama last night, Larry Paz. It was simultaneously his wedding anniversary with his wife, Ana. These two have positively affected so many lives, ours included. We were introduced to them only a few years ago by a mutual friend who had sung Onekama's praises for years. No matter how lovely this village on Portage Lake may be, it was only due to the immediate bond forged between Tony and Larry that we ended up setting down roots here which spread out pretty quickly. Ad multos annos, Larry and Ana!

Liturgical: Thursday of the 21st Week of Ordinary Time

1 Thessalonians 3:7-13

For this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Sanctoral: St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 A.D.) was born in North Africa to a pagan father and a Christian mother, St. Monica. His mother did her best to raise him in the Christian faith, but Augustine, a brilliant and promising young student, was carried away into worldy attractions, lust for women, and pagan philosophies. This put his faith and morals into a state of crisis for many years. His waywardness gave his holy mother great pain and anxiety as she watched her son pursue materialistic ambitions and keep company with heretical sects. Through her constant prayers and the holy preaching of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, St. Augustine came to recognize the truth of Christianity; but only after several spiritually tumultuous years of seeking God through his philosophical studies. He underwent a profound conversion and was baptized, after which he lived a holy life of purity, prayer, and penance. His life is one of the greatest sinner-to-saint stories in the history of the Church. St. Augustine eventually became a priest, bishop, theologian, writer, and the founder of a religious order of priests. He was declared a Doctor of the Church and is considered one of the most influential saints and theologians to have ever lived, one whose writings are widely read to this very day.

Video of Pope Leo XIV on his devotion to St. Augustine (before and after he became the Pope).

A Geography of Two Cities: Augustine’s Hippo Regius

Human: Birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (philosopher) – 1749 and Elizabeth Ann Seton (first American-born saint) – 1774 and Tasha Tudor (children’s author & illustrator) – 1915

Roman history today:

• 430 AD – during the siege of Hippo by the Vandals, Saint Augustine died, after a long-term illness

• 475 AD – the head of the Orestes troops overthrew the Roman emperor Julius Nepos. He escaped to Dalmatia. While still there, he considered himself an emperor.

• 476 AD – Orestes, father of Emperor Romulus Augustulus, was murdered in Placentia (Piacenza) by Odoacer’s soldiers.

Natural: Tracking the seasons with falconry!

Italian: Cavatappi (corkscrew / bottle opener)

ETC.: Five pilgrimage routes in Italy connected with saints, including St. Augustine.

Quote: Today's Gospel reflections from Bishop Barron (one of my favorites):

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus praises the faithful servant who served his master in a theo-drama. We are called to serve our Master in the same way. A theo-drama is written and directed by God. On the great stage that is the created universe and according to the prototype that is Christ, we are invited to “act,” to find and play our role in God’s theater.

The problem is that the vast majority of us think that we are the directors, writers, and, above all, stars of our own “ego-dramas,” with other people functioning as either our supporting players or the villains in contrast to whom we shine all the brighter.

Of course, our dramas are always uninteresting, even if we are playing the lead role. The key is to find the role that God has designed for us, even if it looks like a bit part. Sometimes, in a lengthy novel, a character who has seemed minor emerges as the fulcrum around which the entire narrative turns.

When we de-center the ego and live in an exciting and unpredictable relationship with God, we realize very clearly that our lives are not about us. And that’s a liberating discovery.