Calendar Class of August 31, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

So long, Summer! Astronomically speaking, we get a few more weeks of the beloved season, but meteorologically speaking, Fall begins tomorrow! Temps are dipping down to the 40s at night already, making swimming a sport to savor in the few hot days left. So go soak up those last few hours of August. In Michigan, that means going out to a big blue body of water. This morning I snuck in a few minutes on the paddle board in my pjs and this evening we will share a Sunday Feast with friends by Portage Lake. Oh Michigan summer, how we will miss you!

Liturgical: Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Pope Leo's Sunday Angelus today.

Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon: Don't Play the Pride Game

Fr Plant's Homily-Scripture Lesson: Welcoming the Outsider

Fr. Mike Schmitz's Homily: Freedom and Joy

Sanctoral: St. Raymond Nonnatus (1200-1240) was born in Catalonia, Spain, to a noble family. His life was saved by caesarean section after his mother died in childbirth, earning him the name 'Nonnatus' meaning 'one not born'. Raymond was a pious child drawn to the religious life, but his father had plans for him to serve in the royal court of the King of Aragon. To distract Raymond from his vocation, his father sent him to tend the family fields. This had the opposite effect and gave Raymond greater opportunity to pray in the country His father eventually allowed him to join the Mercedarians, a religious order which ransomed Christian slaves from their Muslim captors. Raymond became Master General of the order and personally freed hundreds of prisoners. When he ran out of money, he ransomed his own life to release Christians held in captivity. St. Raymond was tortured throughout his imprisonment yet he converted numerous people to the Christian faith. To prevent him from preaching Christ, his captors pierced his lips with a red-hot iron and closed them with a padlock. He was eventually ransomed by his order and returned to Spain, and died a year later. After his death there was a dispute over who had the right to bury his body. To settle the matter, his body was placed on a blind mule and set loose. The mule went to the country chapel where Raymond had prayed in his youth, and it was there that he was buried. Many miracles were attributed to St. Raymond Nonnatus both before and after his death. He is the patron of children, childbirth, pregnant women, infants, and midwives.

Human: Birthday of Maria Montessori (doctor and founder of the Montessori method of education) – 1870

12 AD – Gaius, son of Germanicus andVispania Agrippina, was born; the future Emperor Caligula. Parents often showed their son in soldier’s clothing. They put on shoes (sandals), which were called caligae, hence the boy received the nickname Caligula, and was treated as a mascot of the army. His initial rule was reasonable: he ordered all political trials to be discontinued, he dismissed people sent for political reasons, he burnt in public the files of the trial of his mother and brothers, and he ordered to publish the works of former opposition historians. However, in November 37 AD, the emperor had a serious illness. When Caligula recovered, he was a different man – he became a tyrant.

161 AD – Emperor Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina, was born. He took part in the expedition against the Marcomanni, with whom he entered into peace immediately after his father’s death, he hardly cared for strengthening of the borders and the development of the province. His rule was a cruel tyranny. Commodus led to the conviction of many senators. He played bloody games, during which he even performed as a gladiator himself. Like several earlier predecessors (especially Caligula orDomitian), he required divine worship. At the end of his reign, he ordered to be recognized as a new incarnation of Hercules – Hercules Romanus.

Natural: Natural Remedies for Anxiety: Herbs, Teas, and Tips to Calm Your Mind

Italian: Spendere e spandere (to waste money)

Quote: "Above all, it is necessary to ask of God every morning the gift of perseverance, and to beg of the Blessed Virgin to obtain it for you, and particularly in the time of temptation, by invoking the name of Jesus and Mary as long as the temptation lasts. Happy the man who will continue to act in this manner, and shall be found so doing when Jesus Christ shall come to judge him. ‘Blessed is that servant, whom, when his Lord shall come, he shall find so doing’ (Matt. 24:46)." —St. Alphonsus De Liguori