Calendar Class of June 8, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Our unexpected Carpe Diem moment today came when we were given a blessing by the Bishop of Assisi, Domenico Sorrentino, and a moving talk about St. Francis and Bl. Carlo Acutis by Msgr Anthony Figueiredo, who is responsible for the pilgrimage of Bl. Carlo's relics around the world. It was certainly a moment of grace on this eve of the great feast of the Holy Spirit, the birthday of the Church. The Church is alive and well in this Umbrian town, and still sending out reverberations that began 800 years ago with the Little Poor Man of Assisi.

Liturgical: The Solemnity of Pentecost (Whitsunday), with Christmas and Easter, ranks among the greatest feasts of Christianity. It commemorates not only the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, Mary and Disciples, but also the fruits and effects of that event: the completion of the work of redemption, the fullness of grace for the Church and its children, and the gift of faith for all nations.

Pope Leo's Pentecost Mass today.

Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon: The Fruit of the Spirit

Fr. Plant's Homily-Scripture Lesson: They Were All Filled with the Holy Spirit

Sanctoral: Saint Medard of Noyon, +546

"The weather saint"-- see the Natural Cycle lesson for info.

Human: Beautiful Pentecost Sunday traditions in Italy, the Pascha rosatum.

Natural: Should Saint Médard's day be wet It will rain for forty yet; At least until Saint Barnabas The summer sun won't favor us,

is a saying in France, and particularly in Picardy where Saint Médard was born in Merovingian times. He was bishop of Noyon and a great missionary who worked for the conversion of the Franks. When Queen Radegunde left her murderer-husband, King Clotaire, she fled to Medard for refuge and was clothed by him in the religious habit.

The stories of how he became a "weather saint" are many and varied. One day, says the legend, Saint Médard gave away one of his father's finest colts to a poor peasant who had lost his horse.

Immediately after this took place there was a torrential rain, and everyone was soaked to the skin except the generous youth. "It is Saint Médard watering his colts," say the French farmers when the June rains come and help up their work. Later, when he was a bishop, Saint Médard was known for his kindness to the farming people and especially to the poor among them.

He set aside the income from twelve acres of his own land to be given to the most virtuous girl of his diocese, and it was he who started the "feast of the rose queen." For many centuries in French churches a crown of roses was placed upon the head of the girl who had most edified the parish. The custom of crowning the rose queen still exists in some of the working districts in the suburbs of Paris, but the feast has become a secular one and takes place in the local salle des fêtes with the mayor and civil officials in attendance.

Italian: 50 Meaningful Italian Flowers Name and Their Significance

Quote: "Our soul is like a hot air balloon. If by chance there is a mortal sin, the soul falls to the ground. Confession is like the fire underneath the balloon enabling the soul to rise again.” --Blessed Carlo Acutis