A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
Just after publishing the Calendar Class blog post of February 21, which featured a reflection on the overarching theme of time, I had a timely encounter with this bag featured above. Walking in haste down via delle Fornaci to collect Cordelia and Valentina from choir practice, my eye was directly drawn to every "Carpe Diem" magnet on the streetside vendors' boards. Then I rounded a corner, and this bag was right in front of me. I had to stop, of course, and ask to take a photo of it "for an article I am writing about the theme of Time." The tourist girls were delighted to comply. "All is Providence!" I enthused to them, before wishing them a happy Roman holiday. "We Live in Time: I'm guilty of looking ahead instead of right in front of me, at you," the bag stated. At first it seemed like a simple romantic sentiment, but, upon further reflection, I got a bit more out of it. This podcast episode, as well as today's Gospel reading, are both reflected in the statement, at least to me. I'm going to leave it at that for now and hope it will make you curious enough to click the links and figure it out for yourselves!
Liturgical: Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.
Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon: Give Expecting Nothing Back
Fr. Plant's Homily: Love Your Enemies
Sanctoral: St. Polycarp of Smyrna (69-155), was converted to Christianity by St. John the Evangelist. He was a disciple of the apostles and friend of St. Ignatius of Antioch. He was ordained bishop of Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) and was about eighty-six when the Roman pro-consul urged him to renounce Christ and save his life. St. Polycarp said, "For eighty-six years I have served Him and he has never wronged me. How can I renounce the King who has saved me?" He suffered martyrdom in 155 by burning at the stake in the amphitheater of Smyrna.
Human: Ancient Roman History today-
Terminalia was celebrated, a festival in honor of the god Terminus, the god of borders between private estates, but above all state borders. His statue was on the verge of private possessions and appeared most often in the form of a stone. The owners of neighboring properties decorated the statue with wreaths and offered a sacrifice in the form of a bit of grain, honeycombs, wine. In addition, a sheep or a pig was killed in honor of the deity. The ceremony ended with singing a song of praise. The public ceremony, on the other hand, included similar rituals on the sixth milestone, along the road to Laurentum (between Ostia and Lavinium). The ceremony took place here probably because it was originally the boundary of the Roman state.
Incidentally, the central train terminal in Rome is named "Termini".
Natural: All about beautiful waxwing birds and the berries they eat- beautyberries. This caught my idea in Old Farmer's Almanac today because it is the name of the publishing company created by the Read-Aloud Revival.
Italian: Avere l’argento vivo addosso (to be fidgety / energetic / restless)
Quote: "We love because He first loved." 1 John 4:19
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