A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
The magnolia tree is in full bloom and dressed for her photo shoot. Every time I walk past she is being admired and photographed by park-goers. Her pretty pink petals are already drifting like snow to the ground. Spring blossoms have appeared in earnest in Rome, with temperatures reaching a very pleasant 60 degrees F in the afternoon. Beautiful things blooming translates into sniffles and suffering for many of us, however, which is a cruel rite of passage into the otherwise enchantingly beautiful new season. Thanks to a lack of a killing frost in winter and its status as the crossroads of the known world in ancient times, Rome contains vegetation (and pollen) from every corner of the globe, and has become one of the caput mundi for allergies. On the colosseum, for example, 420 different species of plants were found growing in the mid 1800s and catalogued before it was cleaned. Probably seeds were brought in the bellies of the beasts from across the empire who died there.
Liturgical: Saturday of the 6th week of Ordinary Time
"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:13-19
Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today.
Sanctoral: Today the Church celebrates Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. It brings to mind the mission of teacher and pastor conferred by Christ on Peter, and continued in an unbroken line down to the present Pope. We celebrate the unity of the Church, founded upon the Apostle, and renew our assent to the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, extended both to truths which are solemnly defined ex cathedra, and to all the acts of the ordinary Magisterium.
The Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Rome has been celebrated from the early days of the Christian era on January 18, in commemoration of the day when Saint Peter held his first service in Rome. The feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Antioch, commemorating his foundation of the See of Antioch, has also been long celebrated at Rome, on February 22. At each place a chair (cathedra) was venerated which the Apostle had used while presiding at Mass. One of the chairs is referred to about 600 by an Abbot Johannes who had been commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to collect in oil from the lamps which burned at the graves of the Roman martyrs.
I saw this chair in St. Peter's basilica in late 2024 when it was taken out of its usual place and put on display during renovations!
Human: Birthday of George Washington (1st U.S. president) – 1732; Death day of Amerigo Vespucci (explorer) – 1512 and Fr. Luigi Giussani (founder of Communion and Liberation) --2005
Natural: Popcorn was first introduced to English colonists by Native Americans – 1630; A history of corn
Italian: Learning Italian Beyond the Classroom: Why Immersion Travel Will Transform Your Language Skills
Quote: Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.
–George Washington (1732–99)
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