Index
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Saint Casimir Parish
MINISTRY OF PRAISE
SEPTEMBER, 2018
St. Casimir Parish
Almighty God,
grant that with the help of St. Casimir’s intercession
we may serve you in holiness and justice.
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PLEASE PRAY FOR THE FOLLOWING INTENTIONS
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That young people in
Africa may have access to education and work in their own countries.
(September Papal
intention)
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That “We adore you, O
Christ, and we bless you because, by your cross, you have redeemed the
world!”
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That many vocations to the
priesthood and religious life will blossom in the Church, and that God
will bless and guide the work of all vocation directors.
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That those whose lives are
dominated by prejudice, violence, or hatred be converted.
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That those who conduct
business will be honest, ethical, and upright stewards in the sight of
God.
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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 our parish community
may grow in faith, hope, and love.
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That God will bless the
poor, the sick, the grieving, the lonely, the homeless, and the
unemployed
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That those who pray be
validated in their belief of its power.
WHAT’S HAPPENING 
AT ST. CASIMIR PARISH?
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September 7th
First Friday Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, 8:00 –
9:00am in Church
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September 8th
Pancake Breakfast
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September 12th
Eucharistic Adoration, 6:00-7:00pm in Church
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SAINT FOR AUGUST
SAINT ROBERT BELLARMINE
Bishop, Doctor
(1541-1621)
September
17th |
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“Truly then the
recompense is great for those who keep your commandments. The
first and greatest commandment helps the man who obeys—not the
God who commands. In addition, the other commandments of God
perfect the man who obeys them. They provide him with what he
needs. They instruct and enlighten him and make him good and
blessed.”
(Saint Robert Bellarmine)
Robert Bellarmine was born in
Italy and was the third of ten children in a family where prayer and
serving others were important. In 1560 he entered the Society of
Jesus, the Jesuits. While he attended the Roman College, he was
considered a brilliant student. He was the first Jesuit to become a
professor at Louvain. His sermons and his defense of the faith were
so powerful that people were attracted to him, and many were
converted.
Bellarmine was ordained a
priest in 1570, at a time when study of Church history and the
Fathers of the Church had been neglected. He devoted his energy to
these two subjects and to Scripture in order to systemize Church
doctrine against the heresies of the Protestant Reformers. He became
rector at the Roman College in 1592 and provincial of Naples in
1594. By 1598 he was named a cardinal and in 1602 he became
archbishop of Capua. He was called to Rome in 1605 to work in
defense of the Church against the heresies of the day. He was an
advisor to five popes and was involved in many controversies. One of
the most famous involved the teachings of Galileo, the scientist,
who was also a friend of Bellarmine.
In the last years of his
life St. Robert turned to spiritual matters, commenting often on the
Scriptures and incorporating his reflections into his writings and
preaching. He died on September 17, 1621. The process for his
canonization was begun in 1627 but was delayed for political
reasons, having to do with his writings, until 1930. In 1931 Pius XI
declared St. Robert Bellarmine a doctor of the Church.
Source: IN HIS LIKENESS, Rev. Charles E. Yost; SAINTS AND FEAST
DAYS, Loyola University Press;
SAINT OF THE DAY, Rev. Leonard Foley, O.F.M., Editor |
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THOUGHTS FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH |
Apart from the cross there is no other
ladder by which we may get to heaven.
(St.
Rose of Lima)
#618
The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, “the one mediator
between God and man.” But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some
way united himself to every man, “the possibility of being made partners, in a
way known to God in the paschal mystery” is offered to all men. He calls his
disciples to “take up [their] cross and follow [him],” for “Christ also suffered
for [us], leaving [us] an example so that [we] should follow in his steps.” In
fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to
be its first beneficiaries. This is achieved supremely in the case of his
mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery
of his redemptive suffering.
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REFLECTION |
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Sharing in the Exaltation
of the Cross
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A man who claims to be self-sufficient and not to need any other
man’s help in hardship and suffering has no part in Christ. The
pride which claims to be independent of human sympathy and
practical help from others is un-Christian. We are here to help
one another. We are here to help Christ in one another.
We are here to help Christ blindly. We must
know him by faith, not by vision. We must help him not only in
those who seem to be Christlike, but more in those in whom
Christ is hidden: in the most unlikely people, in those whom the
world condemns. It is in them that Christ, indwelling man,
suffers most; it is them that he cannot carry his cross today
without the help of others.
Simon of Cyrene saw only three criminals (of
whom Christ was one) on the way to die. He could not know until
he had taken up that stranger’s cross, that in it was the secret
of his own salvation.
We must be ready to carry the burden of
anyone whom we meet on our way and who clearly needs help, not
only those who “deserve,” or seem to “deserve,” help. Everyone
is our “business,” and Christ in everyone, potentially or
actually, has a first claim that comes before all else.
We are here on earth to help to carry the
cross of Christ hidden in other human beings, and to help in
whatever way we can. We may, like Simon, have literally a strong
arm to give, we may help to do hard work; we may have material
goods to give; we may have time, which we desperately want for
ourselves but which we must sacrifice for Christ. We may have
only suffering. Suffering is the most precious coin of all.
Suffering of body, suffering of mind, laid down willingly for
Christ, enables Christ to carry his redeeming cross through the
world to the end of time.
Suffering contains in itself all that Simon
gave: our mind and body, frustration, and identification with
someone else. That last is the germ of our own salvation, the
way to transform the self-pity that is the danger in all
suffering into the love of other people which reaches out a hand
to Christ, and saves us.
by Caryll
Houselander, (died 1954) British mystic, poet, and spiritual
teacher
found in MAGNIFICAT, September, 2017, pp.182-183
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Lietuvi