AUGUST: Summer days end soon, and teachers and students go back to school, in whatever form that takes this unusual year. The weight of history descends as we observe memorials of the destruction of Hiroshima (6) and Nagasaki (9). We’re also challenged to do justice in the present: on World Indigenous Peoples’ Day (also 9), International Youth Day (12), World Humanitarian Day (19), and International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition (23). It’s also National Water Quality Month, in a generation when clean water is still not a given in our own country. The World Day for Prayer for the Care of Creation (Sept. 1) reminds us of the climate crisis we face. How do we seek peace and work for the common good as people of faith?

The month offers 20 role models among the saints, plus three Marian feasts: honoring the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome (5), the Assumption (15, not a holy day of obligation this year), and Mary’s role as Queen of Heaven (22). We recall how law and prophecy are fulfilled in Jesus as witnessed at his Transfiguration (also 6). Half the month’s daily readings are prophet-haunted, particularly by Ezekiel. Then we move on to Paul’s more pastoral epistles. The question lingers: How do we find our way to a future of mutual good?

You may download TAKE FIVE FOR FAITH in the following file formats:

PLEASE NOTE: To offer parish bulletin editors and web editors more flexibility, TAKE FIVE FOR FAITH weekly inserts no longer include artwork. If you are looking for artwork, we encourage you to search under Google Images online. (Hint: Select the tools link in Google Images to search for art labeled for reuse.)

• PDF: Paste into word-processing program as art or print as one-page handout. See details below for placing PDFs in WORD or PUBLISHER or converting PDFs to black and white. 
• RTF: Open in word-processing program and adapt/reformat as you wish.

To VIEW a file: 

1. Click the desired PDF or RTF file link. 
2. The file will automatically download into and be visible in your web browser OR you will be prompted to download the file.

To DOWNLOAD a file:

1. Right-click the desired PDF or RTF link (or simply click the link, depending on the browser you are using). 
2. Select "Save Target As..." or "Save Link Target As..."
3. Indicate where to save the file on your computer and file will download.
4. Open PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader or RTF file in a word-processing program.

Note if you are working in a program that doesn't allow for PDF files to be inserted as images (such as WORD or PUBLISHER):

1. Open the PDF in Acrobat.
2. Choose "File" and then "Export to."
3. Select "Image" and then "jpeg."
4. Name and save.
5. Go into your layout program (Publisher/Word), choose Insert/Pictures, and insert the jpeg of the Take Five.
6. To convert to black-and-white, go to the image control: color section and select the drop down menu that says automatic and change it to grayscale. Then hit ok.

To CONVERT a color PDF to BLACK-and-WHITE in INDESIGN:

Save the final file as a grayscale pdf. To do so:

1. Open the document and select Print to pdf format.
2. When the print menu appears, select output and change the color to composite gray. The pdf file saved will be in black and white rather than color. 

* Many other desktop publishing programs have similar steps as those mentioned above to convert color graphics to grayscale.