Saint Casimir Parish

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MINISTRY OF PRAISE
 

JUNE, 2016
 
St. Casimir Parish
 

Almighty God,
grant that with the help of St. Casimir’s intercession
we may serve you in holiness and justice.


PLEASE PRAY FOR THE FOLLOWING INTENTIONS

  • That the aged, marginalized, and those who have no one may find - even within the huge cities of the world - the opportunities for encounter and solidarity.  ( June Papal intention)

  • That we, the Body of Christ, will deepen our devotion to the Eucharistic sacrifice which gives life to the world.
     

  • That the Real Presence of Jesus will be experienced in all marriages, business relations, friendships, and daily encounters.
     

  • That our parish’s communion in faith will become a more perfect likeness of the Blessed Trinity.
     

  • That God bless Father Bacevice and the Pastoral and Finance Councils in their efforts to secure the future of St. Casimir Parish.

  • That all parishioners recognize their responsibility to St. Casimir Parish’s future through financial support, fund-raising efforts, commitment to parish activities, sharing ideas, and most importantly prayer.

  • That migrants, refugees, and displaced persons will be shown the mercy of Christ and be relieved of their afflictions.
     

  • That our Ministers of Praise be validated in their belief in the power of prayer.

WHAT’S HAPPENING            AT ST. CASIMIR PARISH?

June 3rd    - First Friday Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, 8:00 – 9:00am in Church

June 8th   -  Evening Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, 6:00 – 9:00pm in Church

 

                      
 SAINT FOR JUNE

 

ST. JUSTIN MARTYR
 

Apologist and Martyr
(100 -  165)

 June 1st

 

Philosophy is the knowledge of that which exists, and a clear understanding of the truth; and happiness is the reward of such knowledge and understanding.  (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, 3)

     Justin was a philosopher, an important early second century apologist (speaker and writer in defense of Christianity), and martyr. Justin sought truth. He investigated many philosophies of his day, but none of them satisfied him until he discovered Christianity. He is the “first ecclesiastical writer who attempts to build a bridge between Christianity and pagan philosophy.”
                                                                                                            (J. Quasten, Patrology, v.1, p. 196 & 198)

    Upon his conversion he continued to wear the philosopher’s mantle, and became the first Christian philosopher. He combined the Christian religion with the best elements in Greek philosophy. He believed that philosophy was the teacher that led him to find Christ. Two of his apologies (writings in defense of the Christian religion against the attacks and misunderstandings of the pagans) have come down to us; they are addressed to the Roman emperor and to the Senate.

     When ordered to deny his faith in Jesus Christ or lose his life, Justin replied: “Nobody in his senses gives up truth for falsehood.” When mocked for his belief of a heavenly reward, Justin replied: “It is not an idea I have; it is something that I know well and hold to be certain.” For his staunch adherence to the Christian religion, Justin was beheaded in Rome in 165.

Source:   IN HIS LIKENESS by Rev. Charles E. Yost, SCJ,STL,  SAINT OF THE DAY, Leonard Foley, O.F.M., editor,
SAINTS AND FEAST DAYS SUPPLEMENT, Loyola University Press

 

THOUGHTS FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Missionary Paths

      

#852  The Holy Spirit is the protagonist, “the principal agent of the whole of the Church’s mission.” It is he who leads the Church on her missionary paths. “This mission continues and, in the course of history, unfolds the mission of Christ, who was sent to evangelize the poor; so the Church, urged on by the Spirit of Christ, must walk the road Christ himself walked, a way of poverty and obedience , of service and self-sacrifice even to death, a death from which he emerged victorious by his resurrection.” So it is that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”

 

REFLECTION

           

   “…that they may be one”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          by Jean Vanier

 

Jean Vanier - the founder of l’Arche, an international network of communities of the mentally disabled

More and more people are becoming conscious that our God is not just a powerful Lord telling us to obey or be punished, but our God is family. Our God is Trinity (three persons in love with each other); our God is communion. And this beautiful and loving God is calling us humans into this life of love. We are not alone; we are called together to drop barriers, to become vulnerable, to become one. The greatest thirst of God is that “they may be one, perfectly one, totally one.” But we have to die to all the powers of egoism in ourselves in order to be reborn for this new and deeper unity where our uniqueness and personal gifts and creativity are not crushed but enlivened and enhanced.

     Community means caring: caring for people… A community is not an abstract ideal. We are not striving for perfect community. Community is not an ideal; it is people. It is you and I. In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we would want them to be. Community means giving them space, helping them to grow. It means also receiving from them so that we too may grow. It is giving each other freedom; it is giving each other trust; it is confirming but also challenging each other. We give dignity to each other by the way we listen to each other, in a spirit of trust and of dying to oneself so that the other may live, grow, and give.

Source:  MAGNIFICAT, June 2014, pp,84-85; from BROKENNESS TO COMMUNITY,
 by the President and Fellows of Harvard University, Paulist Press, New York.