Saint Casimir Parish

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MINISTRY OF PRAISE
 

FEBRUARY, 2018
 
St. Casimir Parish
 

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

 February 16th – the 100th anniversary of Lithuania’s Declaration of Independence

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE FOLLOWING INTENTIONS

  • That those who have material, political or spiritual power may resist any lure of corruption.              
                                                                                                                            (February Papal intention)

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  • That this Lent the Church will share the Gospel message of love with those who live in material, moral, or spiritual poverty.
     

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  • That we see the presence of Jesus in all circumstances and situations of life.
     

  • That those preparing to enter the Church at Easter will find in the Creed of the Church the sustenance to live a holy life.
     

  • That we honor the Ten Commandments as God’s gift pointing us toward a life truly free and fulfilling. 
     

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

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

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  • That God will be close to the poor, the sick, the grieving, the lonely and those facing serious problems.
     

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  • That we be truly loving in our thoughts, words, and deeds.
     

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  • That those who pray be validated in their belief of its power.

WHAT’S HAPPENING            AT ST. CASIMIR PARISH?

  •  Feb.2nd    First Friday Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, 8:00 – 9:00am in Church

  •  Feb. 14th    Ash Wednesday

  •  Feb. 18th    Parish celebration of 100th Lithuanian Independence Day

  •  Feb. 19th    Collinwood Cluster Mass at St. Casimir, 7:00pm

 
SAINT FOR FEBRUARY
 

SAINT VALENTINE

Priest
(? 269)

February 14th

As the Father loves me, so I love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain  in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.         (John 15: 9-10)

     Only two saints—Valentine and Patrick—have their feast days listed on ordinary calendars. We know almost nothing about the real St. Valentine except that he was a Roman priest who was martyred for his faith. For some reason St. Valentine’s name has been associated with love and lovers as far back as Chaucer’s time.

     Although we do not know how St. Valentine came to be the patron of lovers, it’s easy to understand why we have a saint assigned to the virtue of love. Love is an essential ingredient of life. Experiments have demonstrated that infants who are provided with adequate food and warmth but denied human contact and affection will die. Even plants and animals respond to love. Love might be said to be the life blood of all creation. Carl Sagan may have called us “star stuff,” but we are more than that: We are love.

     The more we love, the more we will be loved. If we try to hoard our love, we will end up with nothing. Love cannot exist in the same space as possessiveness, dependency, or selfishness. In chapter 13 of First Corinthians St. Paul expresses this thought. He tells us that where jealousy, pomposity, rudeness, self-interest, and other faults exist, there is not love.

     The very essence of love demands that we give it away. Let us try our best to be loving people during this Lenten Season.

Source:  365 SAINTS by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker

 

THOUGHTS FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Thoughts of Love
 

#1604  God who created man out of love also calls him to love—the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love. Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator’s eyes. And this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation. “And God blessed them, and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.‘“

#1844  By charity, we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of God. Charity, the form of all virtues, “binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

      And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.(Col 3:14)

 REFLECTION

REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE DUST
 Lenten reflection #1

     Recently in England, Ash Wednesday was declared “National No Smoking Day.” Giving up smoking is about penance and self-denial and something to do with ash, therefore Ash Wednesday seems an obvious day to choose. “Give up smoking and save your life.” When people give things up, when they diet or go on an exercise plan, it can be because they want to feel better. They want to fashion a different self-image. At the end of the process, they can say “this is the new me. Look what I have made.” We gain a certain satisfaction in self-mastery, but Christian self-denial is not about that. The Gospels warn us against pride and the piety of achievement. We are not our own creations.

     In earlier centuries, Lent was seen as time to consider judgment and to realize in intense penitence how our sins brought Christ to the cross. Its character as a pilgrimage of return to the baptismal font was obscured. Self-denial was seen as an essential component in the fashioning of the new penitent “me,” one who is worthy of heaven. Today during Lent, Catholics deliberately cast a cold eye on death, reminding themselves that all of this beauty will pass. It will come to an end, unravel, fragment, and disintegrate into dust. When we daub ourselves with ashes we state that this is what we are without God, dust, like Adam before he was Adam. Renewing our sense of who we really are before God is the core of the Lenten experience.

Author: Father Allan James White, O.P.
(formerly Prior Provincial of the English Province of the Order of Preachers,
currently Vice Principal of St. Mary’s School and priest in residence at St. Mary’s Parish, El Centro, California)

 Source:  MAGNIFICAT, January, 2015, p. 272