Calendar Class of July 21, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Strolling through a cemetery with your feet above the final resting place of individuals whose existence resulted in your own existence is a powerful memento mori. The flip side of remembering your death is remembering and appreciating your life, and thereby choosing to live it more intentionally, the daily Carpe Diem practice. The stoic practice of Memento Mori, described by both Marcus Aurelius and Seneca in their writings, is similar to the Nightly Examen of St. Ignatius and to a nightly practice that Bishop Barron describes in the interview linked below.

Since writing a book on stoicism, I've adopted a new nightly ritual based on Seneca's exhortation. Upon retiring, I say "I have lived. Thanks be to God." The chapter of the day has finished and all the happenings of the day and my life turned over to God before submitting myself to sleep, the "second death." Then, upon rising, never a guarantee but rather a privilege (in the paraphrased words of Aurelius), I say, "I am alive. Thanks be to God," and a new chapter has begun.

Related links:

A wide-ranging interview with Bishop Barron on how faith can free you from anxiety and depression. So many favorite thinkers and saints were mentioned!

Also, read this beautiful piece on the Christian theology behind the Memento Mori practice.

Liturgical: Optional Memorial of Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church

For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ.

But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.

2 Corinthians 4:1-2, 5-7

Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today.

Sanctoral: Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, July 22, 1559 – July 22, 1619

At first glance, perhaps the most remarkable quality of Lawrence of Brindisi is his outstanding gift of languages. In addition to a thorough knowledge of his native Italian, he had complete reading and speaking ability in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, German, Bohemian, Spanish, and French.

The Roman Martyrology today commemorates St. Praxedes (d. 164), whose history is rather obscure. A sixth century account makes her a sister of St. Pudentiana and a daughter of the senator Pudens, which would place her life around the origin of the Church in Rome. As a single laywoman she was generous in sharing her wealth with the works of Church of Rome, and also living a life of virtue, especially charity for others.

Human: 285 AD – Roman emperor Diocletian appointed Maximinus his co-emperor.

365 AD – an earthquake near Crete and the tsunami caused by it destroyed the east coast of the Mediterranean. The earthquake reportedly had a strength of 8 on the Richter scale. As a result of this cataclysm, 5 000 inhabitants of Alexandria and 45 000 people from outside the city lost their lives.

In Jackson, Michigan, a factory robot crushed a worker against a safety bar in the first known robot-related death in the U.S. – 1984

Discovery of the subatomic particle tau-neutrino announced – 2000

Natural: All Life Breathes

From Worms to Trees to Animals—Breath Connects All Living Things

Italian: Cintura (belt)

Quote: "The communication

Of the dead is tongued with fire

beyond the language of the living."

--From T.S. Eliot's poem, "Little Gidding'