Happy New Year! We made it, dear readers! It's great to be alive in 2025. And...all 365 blog posts have been created, per my 2024 New Year's resolutions. Thanks for joining me on this annual journey of contemplative, providence-led study of the "Four Cycles of Life." The daily practice has born much fruit, and now I'm ready to do a little habit stacking, and also to throw in some more creativity.
Speaking of habit stacking and resolutions, here's today's podcast episode on the topic from Dr. Chatterjee.
A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
This morning I drove alone through ever-thickening snow to attend Mass in Big Rapids for the feast day. Afterwards I was delighted to spot the New Year Baby of Piety Hill herself, the daughter of my niece, and we were both heading to the same corner of the church. We visited the Creche together and she tickled the toes of baby Jesus.
Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today.
World Day of Peace
Sanctoral: An audio on Mary, the Mother of God
Human: Happy New Year’s Day! January was named for the Roman god Janus, the two-faced god of beginnings.
Janus looks simultaneously to the future and the past, a fitting symbol for this first day of the year. It’s natural for us to reflect on the past year and also look forward to the new. The weather of the first 12 days of the year is said to be indicative of the following 12 months. Also, Janus was known as the protector of gates and doorways, bridges, and passageways, which also symbolize beginnings and ends.
Interesting, January was originally the 11th month, not the 1st, until at least 153 B.C. In Rome, this month was often a time of peace when the gates of the temple were closed. Only when the gates were open was Rome at war.
Janus am I; oldest of potentates!
Forward I look and backward.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Old Farmer's Almanac today.
It's the birthday of writer E.M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster), born in London in 1879. He's the author of A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910), and A Passage to India (1924). He wrote his five most important novels before he was 40. He said, "The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves."
The Writer's Almanac edition today.
Natural: 45 BC– The Julian Calendar was introduced, replacing the old Roman calendar. The reason for the reform was that the previously used lunar calendar of the Roman region had become unbalanced, resulting in the fact that, on the calendar, December of 46 BC fell in September. The new calendar was so stable that Europe used it until the 16th century, when it was noticed that this calendar lead to delays in relation to the natural rhythm of the seasons, which led to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.
404 AD – the last gladiatorial battle took place in the Colosseum. Even before that date, this brutal sport was officially banned as incompatible with the Christian spirit, but acceptance of this law took 5 years.
Italian: Paffuto (chubby / plump)
Quote: “We are now entering on a fresh stage of our life’s journey; we know well how it will end, and we see where we shall stop in the evening, though we do not see the road.” -- St. John Henry Newman
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