Calendar Class of September 11, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Yesterday evening as I was washing up from our "Autumn Tea" that we hosted with family and friends (as we used to do on a grander scale in the past on the farm), the news and messages about Charlie Kirk's assassination came flooding in. C.S. Lewis' quote (at the bottom of this post) immediately came to mind. We all had, at about the time of the shooting, been praying for those who had recently died, through the intervention of this season's saints, a traditional feature of our Autumn gathering. As Lewis reminds us, we all live continually under the threat of sudden death. This awareness is our "Memento Mori" and how we choose to live our lives each day in our "Carpe Diem" response. "If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things," Lewis exhorts. Thankfully, yesterday evening found us doing very sensible and edifying things- praying in community, enjoying delicious Autumnal food and drink, learning about the craft of calligraphy from Fr. Joseph, and the Fibonacci sequence of pinecones from Sheila Carroll, as we practiced "Lectio Natura" with her. We redeemed the time lent to us, while we still have it.

Liturgical: Thursday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time

Luke 6:27–38

But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.

Sanctoral: St. Jean-Gabriel Perboyre (1802-1840) was one of eight children born to a farming family in France. He was a pious child and served as a model of virtue for his childhood companions. He discerned a call to the priesthood and joined the Vincentians along with a younger brother, with the full support of his parents. He served as a seminary professor for many years, and his sanctity impressed even his superiors. He longed to serve in the missions to China, but his poor health prevented him and his brother was sent instead. He prayed and begged to also be sent to preach in China and to suffer martyrdom there. After his brother died on the voyage to China, Jean-Gabriel was allowed to take his place in the mission. He arrived in China in 1835 and his labors there were met with great success. In 1839 persecutions broke out against the Christian missionaries, and Jean-Gabriel was one of the first to be arrested. The events leading to his death bear a striking resemblance to the Passion and Death of Christ. He was betrayed to the authorities by one of his new converts for thirty pieces of silver, stripped of his garments and clothed with rags, bound, and dragged from tribunal to tribunal. At each trial, he was brutally treated and tortured. He was finally condemned to death along with seven other criminals on September 11, 1840. He was martyred by being strangled to death as he hung on a cross.

Human: Patriot Day (United States)

By presidential proclamation, Patriot Day is observed in the United States on September 11, or 9/11, in memory of the thousands who lost their lives as a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States that involved four hijacked planes. The observance also honors those who came to aid in the aftermath. Each year on Patriot Day, the U.S. flag is flown at half-staff. Citizens are asked to observe a moment of silence, usually at 8:46 a.m. EDT (when the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center in New York City), and are encouraged to devote the day and year to serving their neighbors and communities.

2001: Two passenger planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists crash into New York's World Trade Center towers, causing the collapse of both and the deaths of 2,606 people; Passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 attempt to retake control of their hijacked plane from terrorists, causing the plane to crash in a Pennsylvania field, killing all 44 people on board; Terrorists hijack a passenger plane and crash it into the Pentagon, killing 125 people

1503 — On this day Michelangelo began sculpting the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ in marble. They were to stand in niches at Florence Cathedral. He abandoned the project two years later when he was summoned to Rome to build a tomb for Pope Julius II.

Natural: What is India Ink that is used in calligraphy? Video on India Ink here and a history of different kinds of ink here

Italian: Raffica (gust / rapid series)

What’s important to know is that raffica is used to describe things that are relentless, fast and continuous.

In weather terminology, for example, una raffica di vento refers to a strong gust of wind. An alternative expression is un vento a raffiche, literally ‘a wind that gusts’.

Quote: “In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. ‘How are we to live in an atomic age?’ I am tempted to reply: Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.’In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways.We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances… and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”

―C.S. Lewis, “On Living In An Atomic Age in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays” (1948)