Calendar Class of June 27, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Yesterday evening we had a whirlwind reunion with friends both old and new at the Acton University's 20th anniversary celebration. Highlights included hearing Brad Birzer lecture on the life and legacy of my Dad with Joseph next to me, attending the final Newman Institute gathering with Cornelis Schilt (Lux Mundi), and attending the final dinner with a wonderful plenary speaker, Frank Hanna (links at the bottom of page).

Liturgical: Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, designated the Friday after the Second Sunday after Pentecost (Corpus Christi Sunday). Sixteenth century Calvinism and seventeenth century Jansenism preached a distorted Christianity that substituted for God's love and sacrifice of His Son for all men the fearful idea that a whole section of humanity was inexorably damned.

The Church always countered this view with the infinite love of our Savior who died on the cross for all men. The institution of the feast of the Sacred Heart was soon to contribute to the creation among the faithful of a powerful current of devotion which since then has grown steadily stronger. The first Office and Mass of the Sacred Heart were composed by St. John Eudes, but the institution of the feast was a result of the appearances of our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1675. The celebration of the feast was extended to the General Roman Calendar of the Church by Pius IX in 1856.

Today is the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests. The World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests takes place every year on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The event at St Peter's looked most impressive!

Sanctoral: Cyril of Alexandria (378 – June 27, 444)

Lives of the saints are valuable not only for the virtue they reveal but also for the less admirable qualities that also appear. Holiness is a gift of God to us as human beings. Life is a process. We respond to God’s gift, but sometimes with a lot of zigzagging. If Cyril had been more patient and diplomatic, the Nestorian church might not have risen and maintained power so long. But even saints must grow out of immaturity, narrowness, and selfishness. It is because they—and we—do grow, that we are truly saints, persons who live the life of God.

Human: 2025- the Kirk Center's first conference of the School of Conservative Studies, "Prospects for Anglo-American Conservatism in the Tradition of Russell Kirk and Roger Scruton"

Natural: Appreciating the Sparrow: The Bird Right Outside Your Front Door

Italian: Fruscio (rustle / rustling)

Quote: "I am a conservative. Quite possibly I am on the losing side; often I think so. Yet, out of a curious perversity I had rather lose with Socrates, let us say, than win with Lenin."

Russell Kirk

Links: Lux Mundi, Birzer's biography of Kirk, the St. John Henry Newman Institute, Frank Hanna