Saint Casimir Parish

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January
2016

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MINISTRY OF PRAISE
 

JULY, 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 indigenous peoples, whose identity and very existence are threatened, will be shown due respect.                                                                      (July Papal intention)
     

  • That God will bless our country and keep us always thankful for the gift of freedom.
     

  • That all may have work in safe and secure conditions.
     

  • That blessings come to all families gathered together at this time of year for reunions or for a welcome time of rest.
     

  • 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 the Lord who is gracious and merciful will rescue the poor, the sick, the down-trodden, the lonely, and those who go without.
     

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

 

WHAT’S HAPPENING            AT ST. CASIMIR PARISH?
 

       July 1st      -   First Friday Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, 8:00 – 9:00am in Church

       July 13th   -   Evening Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, 6:00 – 9:00pm in Church
       July 27th   -   Holy Name Society welcomes all parishioners to its evening picnic in the convent’s backyard.

                      
 SAINT FOR JULY

 

ST. ANTHONY MARIA ZACCARIA

 

Priest
(1502-1539)

July 5th

That which God commands seems difficult and a burden. The way is rough; you draw back; you have no desire to follow it. Yet do so and you will attain glory.
                                                                                      (St. Anthony Maria Zaccaria, Catholic Digest, June/July/August, 2014. p. 87)

     At the same time that Martin Luther was attacking abuses in the Church, a reformation within the Church was already being attempted. Anthony Zaccaria was among the early movers of the Counter-Reformation.

    Anthony’s mother became a widow at 18 and devoted herself to the spiritual education of her son.  At age 22 he received a medical doctorate. While working among the poor of his native Cremona, Italy he was attracted to the religious apostolate. He renounced his rights to any future inheritance, worked as a catechist, and was ordained priest at age 26.

   In Milan Anthony laid the foundations of two religious congregations, one for men and one for women. He chose St. Paul as a model and patron. Their aim was the reform of the decadent society of their day, beginning with the clergy and religious. Anthony’s days were filled with preaching in churches and on street corners. He conducted popular missions, encouraged collaboration of the laity in the apostolate, frequent Communion, and the Forty Hours devotion.

   Anthony’s holiness influenced many to reform but, as with many saints, it also resulted in opposition by others. Twice his community underwent official religious investigation, and twice was exonerated. While on a mission, he became seriously ill and was brought home for a visit with his mother. He died in Cremona at the age of 36. 

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

The Life of Man – To Know and Love God

      

#3  Those who with God’s help have welcomed Christ’s call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ’s faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.

 

REFLECTION

           

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD
CONTINUING CHRIST'S WORK OF MERCY
 

Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
American Catholic author and Trappist monk
at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky.

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5:43-48)

     Mercy, in other words, is at work in the freedom of the sons of God, is the full expression of that freedom, its character, its proper name, the reflection of the truth that makes us free (the truth of the merciful God revealing Himself in the eschatological* event which is mercy and salvation).

     To receive mercy and to give it is to participate in the work of the new creation and of redemption. It is to share in the eschatological fulfillment of the work of Christ and in the establishment of the Kingdom. But without mercy, on the other hand, no zeal, no doctrine, no work, no sacrifice has in it the savor of life. It tastes of death, of old things that have been done away with in the victory of the Risen Christ.  No structure can stand that is not built on the rock of God’s mercy and steadfast love, and his unfailing promise.

by Thomas Merton in Love and Living,
ed. Naomi Burton Stone and Brother Patrick Hart, by the Morton Legacy Trust, 1970
Source:  THE WAY OF MERCY, pp. 82-83, ed. Christine M. Bochen, Orbis Books

 eschatology* - The part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul  and of humankind.