August 2025 Newsletter

touched with a little bit of melancholy. From when we are children, we know that August is followed by September. These wonderful days will not last forever.

Who can help but think of the days gone by. Maybe we remember family reunions and all the people who are no longer with us. Or maybe we know that the good times we are enjoying will be fleeting and work and responsibilities will soon return. Or maybe we just like the warm weather, and we dread the return of the cold.

August is a month of transition – as is all of life.

Youth quickly becomes adulthood, which in turn becomes old age.

Physical fitness becomes creaky knees and aches and pains. People move, children grow up, families evolve. As the shadows lengthen and the August days melt one into another, we are reminded that the good times will be fleeting.

As Christians, we are invited to face these realities, but not with a sense of despair. We are called to cherish each moment of life, even the painful ones. It’s all a gift. Maybe the fact that all things here on earth come to an end gives them even more flavor, even more wonder, even more sweetness – not less! Like a gardener who rejoices in the flowers that bloom in the summer and die in the fall, we should make sure we pause, reflect, enjoy, and give thanks in these blessed moments, especially when we are struck by the loveliness of life. Maybe what God will make eternal will be just those moments when we become still and cherish his Creation.

We should enjoy everything August brings, and it’s OK to be a little sentimental as the summer winds down, but we must never forget that God promises an eternal summer that will not be followed by the chill of fall.

Happy summer!

Joseph Nuzzi

Saint of the Month

The Blessed Mother

Feast Day: August 15

We celebrate Mary on the first day of the year, and May is dedicated to Mary in a special way. October is also dedicated to our Lady and the Rosary. But August is also a very important month for the Blessed Mother. On August 15^th, the Church celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII solemnly defined the doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus. He proclaimed that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." The pope left it ambiguous whether Mary passed away and was immediately raised from the dead and taken, body and soul, into heaven, or whether she was taken to heaven before death, like Enoch or Elijah.

The orthodox Churches call the feast the “Dormition of the Mother of God.” They commemorate the peaceful death of Mary and her glorious entrance into heaven with her Son.

What we all believe is that having completed her earthly journey, Mary was immediately glorified body and soul in heaven, as all the saints will be at the end.

Why was Mary given this special privilege? It completed her journey of accompanying her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. She accompanied Christ in her womb, nourishing him as all mothers nourish their growing children. After she gave birth in Bethlehem, she raised Jesus and accompanied him through all the stages of infancy, childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood. She shared her faith with her son and she watched him grow in knowledge and wisdom. Like all parents, Mary had to let go when her child became an adult. Jesus left home to pursue the mission given to him by God. Yet Mary accompanied him still in a different way. She was with him at the wedding feast in Cana. She worried about him in the crowded synagogues of Galilee. She even, horribly, had to accompany Jesus to the cross and death. Why should we be surprised that the Father welcomed Mary to accompany Christ even into his Resurrection? She deserves that.

There is a beautiful tradition in Greek icons of the Dormition of the Virgin. It shows Mary peacefully dying, surrounded by the apostles. Above her, in heavenly glory, Christ is holding his mother newly born into eternal life, wrapped in swaddling clothes. The icon is the reverse of the nativity icon. It makes me imagine Jesus saying to his mother at the end of her life: You welcomed me into your world, now let me welcome you into mine.

Mary, Mother of God, pray for us who still struggle though this life, that we too may one day share in Christ’s resurrection as you do already. Amen.

Joseph Nuzzi

A Tip for Small Christian Communities to Thrive

Share your summer in a different way!

Many small Christian communities don’t meet during the summer. July and August are popular months for vacation and people are often away or busy with different things than they might be doing the rest of the year. But this does not mean you take a vacation from your community. Your small Christian community is more than the “meeting.”

Of course, praying together and sharing our lives with each other require us to intentionally gather, but the real human bonds in a community go beyond the time we are praying together. So keep those bonds strong even when your group takes a little break from meetings.

If you’re on vacation, maybe go a little “retro” and send post-cards to your group members to share your travels. Or host a summer picnic and just share some good times. Or, if you have a quiet moment alone on the beach, or in the country, offer up a prayer for the members of your community who might need it.

Make the most of the summer slowdown. You can take a break from meetings, but that doesn’t mean you take a break from the love, the sharing and the connections.

Happy August!

Follow us on social media for more advice from our Tuesday Tips posts!

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