Calendar Class of May 4, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Once again today, I am so thankful that all roads lead to Rome. Recently, it has been one reunion after another with old friends and new as Catholics flock to Rome during this historic period. Last week, I unexpectantly saw a friend after 25 years, and then, today, I was able to meet up with a friend after 8 years. Both, incidentally, were former fellows at the Kirk Center, many years apart (all roads also lead to Mecosta!). Also today, I met my "God-cousin" for the first time, if such a thing exists, and know that I have made a friend for life. These ladies and I have much in common, including a love of Sunday strolls in the park. The long, leisurely walk was a challenge for little Cordelia, but a stop at the Casale Cedrati for refreshment and a butterfly net did help. I've only recently discovered it, somehow, and it's already become my favorite escape-from-the-city spot. At the bookshop today, I discovered the local nature study resource I've been hoping to find for years, Biodiversita a Roma, a guide to the flora and fauna of Rome with watercolor illustrations! The shopkeeper informed me that both the author and illustrator live in Rome and offer workshops. Stay tuned for developments...

Liturgical: Third Sunday of Easter

"When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus." For the third time Jesus appears to His disciples and on the lake of Genesareth renews the miraculous draught of fishes. The Fathers did not fail to see in the one hundred and fifty-three great fishes that Peter brought to land the neophytes born to supernatural life in the waters of baptism and brought by Peter to the feet of the risen Christ.

Fr. Plant's Homily-Scripture Lesson: Three questions around a charcoal fire

Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon: Becoming a Disciple of Jesus

Sanctoral: Saint Gotthard, A.D. 960–1038

Patron Saint of: Traveling Merchants, Those in Peril of the Sea. Invoked Against Fever, Dropsy, Childhood Illnesses, Hailstones, and the Pain of Childbirth

Human: 11 BC – the Theatre of Marcellus was opened. It is the only theater in Rome that has survived to our times, preserving – at least partially – its external appearance. He owes his name to Marcellus, Augustus’ son-in-law, who died in 23 BC in the age of 20. The building reflects the way in which the Romans adapted the Greek invention: the outer wall rises to three storeys, due to the fact that the theater was erected on a flat surface, not in a hollow. The first storey is built in the Doric order, the second in Ionic, and the third in Corinthian. The object’s capacity is estimated at 10-14 thousand viewers.

Natural: Night Sky for May 2025: Planets, Stars, and the Moon

Italian: Toccata e fuga (very brief / short)

Quote: Among the changing months, May stands confessed

The sweetest, and in fairest colors dressed!

–James Thomson, Scottish poet (1700–48)

Etc.: According to astronomers, what is a Julian day?

Answer: The term “Julian Day” can be confusing because it has several meanings, including being a date on the Julian calendar. In astronomy, however, the Julian day (or Julian day number) is the number of days that have passed since the start of a Julian period. The Julian period is a year-numbering system developed by 16th-century French astronomer Joseph Justus Scaliger. He determined that the current Julian period began on January 1, 4713 B.C. of the Julian calendar; every 7,980 years, the count of years restarts.

For dating and comparing the timing of astronomical events and observations, John Herschel and other astronomers created a day-numbering system based on Scaliger’s Julian period. There are no months in a Julian day system; it simply counts the days, and fractions of days in decimals, since the period began. Julian day 0 occurred on January 1, 4713 B.C. The Julian day starts at noon Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time), so that nighttime astronomical events occur on one Julian day. 

A Julian date includes the fraction of a Julian day. For example, on May 1, 2016 (Gregorian calendar date), at midnight (the start of the day on a common calendar), the Julian day number was 2457509, and the Julian date was 2457509.5. On May 1, 2016, at noon, the Julian day number changed to 2457510 and the Julian date to 2457510.0.