Calendar Class of June 26, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

We're back at Mecosta's thriving center of social life and carb decadence, the Coffee and Cream Café. The scene yesterday evening was rather surreal, as there was a thick shower of cottonwood falling like snow all over us. None of us recall this happening before, so I have been tasked with doing research on the cottonwood tree (see the results below!).

Liturgical: Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them

will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

Matthew 7:21-29

Sanctoral: The Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975). St. Josemaría founded Opus Dei which opened a new path of holiness, helping the faithful in all walks of life to sanctify themselves in the midst of the world by performing ordinary work and daily duties with a Christian spirit. He died on June 26, 1975 and was canonized a saint on October 6, 2002.

Human: Opening ceremonies took place for the St. Lawrence Seaway, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic – 1959 (see Book of the Day)

Natural: All about the Cottonwood Tree

The cottonwood has caterpillar-like flowers, called catkins, which are wind pollinated. The seeds have a fluffy tuft of fuzz, hence the term “cottonwood.” While the cottony fluff from cottonwood seeds can be messy and clog air filters, it's important to note that it doesn't typically cause allergies. The allergies associated with the spring and early summer months are usually due to other wind-borne pollen from trees like oak, pine, and maple. Nevertheless, their annual faux snow shower can cause some temporary problems for about two weeks. Read this.

Italian: Gironzolare (to wander / to hang around)

Book of the Day:Paddle to the Sea, by Holling C. Holling. Here's a little video created about the book.

Quote: From Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today:

On what precisely is the whole of your life built?

Your heart is your deep center, the place where you are most authentically yourself. That is your point of contact with God. There you will find the energy that undergirds the other areas of your life: physical, psychological, emotional, relational, and spiritual.

If you are rooted in God at the level of your heart, then you will be following the intentions and commands of God, and you can withstand anything. But this does not mean that if we follow God’s commands, the winds and floods will not come.

In Jesus’ parable, both builders, the one who follows the commands of God and the one who doesn’t, experience the rain and the floods that symbolize all the trials and temptations and difficulties at the surface of life. But if at the very center of your life you are linked with God—that power that is here and now creating the cosmos—then the storms and floods will come, but they will not destroy you.