Calendar Class of August 3, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

It was a busy first weekend of August in both Rome, with the one million people in town for the Jubilee of the Youth, and in Onekama, with the annual village festival. This picnic table ended up being everyone's favorite spot for a peaceful retreat from the hubbub (which was extremely relative in this sleepy little community). While I tried to hit all the spots and attend all the events, my girls took the advice of Pope Leo: “During the summer, we have more free time in which to gather our thoughts and reflect, and also to travel and spend time with each other. Let us make good use of this, by leaving behind the whirlwind of commitments and worries in order to savor a few moments of peace and reflection, taking time as well to visit other places and share in the joy of seeing others." The girls gravitated to the bonfire, picnic table, and living room of our neighbors Bob and Sandy all weekend, despite all the programmed activities on offer, demonstrating to me that true rest and refreshment is often best experienced in these spontaneous moments and in growing friendships, the stuff of life that can't be planned.

Liturgical: Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass readings- all are profound; it was difficult to make a selection today.

Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17

You turn us back to dust,    

and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”

For a thousand years in your sight    

are like yesterday when it is past,    

or like a watch in the night.

You sweep them away; they are like a dream,    

like grass that is renewed in the morning; 

in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;    

in the evening it fades and withers.

So teach us to count our days    

that we may gain a wise heart.

Turn, O Lord! How long?    

Have compassion on your servants!

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,    

so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,    

and prosper for us the work of our hands—    

O prosper the work of our hands!

Pope Leo's Homily at today's Mass for the Jubilee of Youth (one MILLION people present!)

Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon: "All Things Must Pass"

Fr. Geoffrey Plant's Homily-Scripture Lesson: Rich in the Sight of God

Sanctoral: St. Lydia Purpuraria, also called Lydia of Thyatira (1st. c), was a pious and wealthy woman involved in the textile trade in Philippi, Macedonia. She and her husband manufactured and traded in the lucrative business of purple dyes and fabrics, a luxury for the elite. Lydia was a worshiper of the true God, and when St. Paul's missionary journeys brought him to Philippi in about 50 A.D., God opened Lydia's heart to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Lydia and her family became St. Paul's very first converts to Christianity, as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. After her family was baptized, Lydia invited Paul and his companion, St. Timothy, to stay in her home. Lydia served the Lord through her gift of hospitality, and her home became a meeting place for the early Christians. After Paul and Silas were released from prison, it was to Lydia's home that they first went to meet and encourage the believers gathered there.

Human: Death of Joseph Conrad (author) – 1924 and Flannery O'Connor (author) – 1964 (the Kirk Center is offering a Masterclass on O'Connor this September!)

Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain with Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria, in search of a western sea route to Asia – 1492

Natural: National Watermelon Day-- How to grow, lots of recipes, etc.

Mark Twain: “When one has tasted watermelon, he knows what the angels eat.”

Anonymous: "Two watermelons can not be held in one hand."

Italian: Arrampicarsi sugli specchi (to clutch at straws)

Quote: "The first reading, taken from the Book of Ecclesiastes, invites us, like the two disciples, to come to terms with the experience of our limitations and the fleeting nature of all things that pass away (cf. Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23). On a similar note, the Responsorial Psalm presents us with the image of “the grass that is renewed… in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers” (Ps 90:5-6). These are two strong reminders which may be a bit shocking, but which should not frighten us as if they were “taboo” issues to be avoided. The fragility they speak of is, in fact, part of the marvel of creation. Think of the image of grass: is not a field of flowers beautiful? Of course, it is delicate, made up of small, vulnerable stems, prone to drying out, to being bent and broken. Yet at the same time these flowers are immediately replaced by others that sprout up after them, generously nourished and fertilized by the first ones as they decay on the ground. This is how the field survives: through constant regeneration. Even during the cold months of winter, when everything seems silent, its energy stirs beneath the ground, preparing to blossom into a thousand colors when spring comes.

We too, dear friends, are made this way, we are made for this. We are not made for a life where everything is taken for granted and static, but for an existence that is constantly renewed through gift of self in love. This is why we continually aspire to something “more” that no created reality can give us; we feel a deep and burning thirst that no drink in this world can satisfy. Knowing this, let us not deceive our hearts by trying to satisfy them with cheap imitations! Let us rather listen to them! Let us turn this thirst into a step stool, like children who stand on tiptoe, in order to peer through the window of encounter with God. We will then find ourselves before him, who is waiting for us, knocking gently on the window of our soul (cf. Rev 3:20). It is truly beautiful, especially at a young age, to open wide your hearts, to allow him to enter, and to set out on this adventure with him towards eternity."

From the homily of His Holiness of Pope Leo XIV, Tor Vergata, 3 August 2025