O Beauty Ever Ancient, Ever New.

Ours is not to see the future. Only to walk through the present.

As 2024 came to a close and the new Liturgical Year began, none of us imagined the extent of the future's upheaval. With continued conflicts in Eastern Europe, instability in Taiwan, renewed strife surrounding Jerusalem, the death of Pope Francis in April of 2025 and then followed by the rapid election of Pope Leo XIV—our Church, our world, and our personal lives have all been marked by uncertainty.

Here in the United States, inflation, tariffs, the housing market, and the broader economy do not cease to keep us on edge. Small towns are experiencing an anxiety that's hard to define but easy to feel. The global economy, once confidently humming along, now seems to move on a tightrope, where the smallest tremor can ripple into real distress for families and communities.

Starkly contrasted, it has been reported that after the election of Pope Leo, the phrase "How to become catholic" saw over a 300% rise in search engine results. Common sense prevailed as the United States officially recognized two sexes: male and female, and there are efforts to spark a Eucharistic Revival to acknowledge, to acclaim, to deliberately live out the fact the our Lord is here with us in the Holy Eucharist.

You didn't plan for any of this. And neither did I. Yet—here we are. Still living, still praying, still trying to walk through the plans God has made for our good, for our sanctification. Still believing, even if only with a mustard seed of faith.

Is this grit? Is it providence? Maybe it's the combination: intercession.

Saintfest has given us a specific individual in the heavenly court to turn to during this particular year for extra graces: St. Augustine.

Augustine, who once wandered so far from the Church, knows what it means to live through confusion and upheaval. He lived in a collapsing empire. He watched the world around him shift and fall. And yet in that chaos, his soul was awakened by grace. The voice of God reached him not through stability, but through restlessness. He found the Lover whom all of our hearts ache for