WELCOME

We welcome into our Parish Community Matthew James Neary, son of Timothy and Vaiva (nee Bucmys). He was baptized at St. Casimir’s earlier this weekend.

PRAYERS FOR LITHUANIA

Each year, the Lithuanian Bishops ask Lithuanian Parishes throughout the world for a day of prayer for Lithuania on the first Sunday of March. As a Lithuanian parish, this weekend we offer our prayers for our brothers and sisters in Lithuania and throughout the world that they grow closer to God through a greater participation in the sacramental life of the Church.

THE ORIGINAL IMAGE OF DIVINE MERCY FILM

We have purchased a license to show the just released documentary film: The Original Image of Divine Mercy, on the days surrounding Divine Mercy Sunday. The film tells “the untold story of the unknown masterpiece” (commissioned by St. Faustina) and how it survived almost a century of improbable odds before it was smuggled back to its home in Vilnius, Lithuania.

     Currently we have scheduled three showings: Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2 at 7:00pm (in the Upper Hall / gym) and a matinee on Tuesday, April 5, at 5:00pm (in the Lower Hall / cafeteria). We are advertising this event to our neighboring parishes in the Central East District, the Parishes in Euclid, and the Polish parishes in our Diocese.

     We are looking for volunteers to help us out in various ways with this project. If you are willing to help, contact Father Bacevice or Julie Zivile Vaitkus. 

PANCAKE BREAKFAST

This Sunday, March 6^th, in our Lower Hall after all the Masses (8:30am to1:30pm) All are invited to come down and enjoy the best pancakes in North Collinwood. Tickets are now available at the main entrance to the Church after the English Masses, in the Lower Hall after the 10:00 Mass, and at the Rectory during office hours. Adult tickets are $7 and children 6 to 13 are $4 at the door. Save $1 by purchasing your tickets in advance.

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES
 

This weekend, the Girl Scout Troops in our neighborhood will be selling their famous cookies after all the Masses at the entrance to the Church and in the lower hall during our Pancake Breakfast. All are invited to support the scouts by purchasing a box or two of their famous cookies.

LITHUANIAN SCOUTS’ ST. CASIMIR’S FAIR
 

The Cleveland Lithuanian Scouts invite everyone to their annual Saint Casimir’s Fair (Kaziuko Muge), next Sunday, March 13^th, in the Upper Hall (gym). The Fair begins after the 10:00 Mass and concludes around 1:00pm. Various crafts, delicacies and dinner will be for sale. Come and support the Lithuanian Scouts who have been active in Cleveland for 66 years. See you at the Fair!

     When the Israelites fled Egypt, God’s chosen people began a journey into being a new creation – changing from a nation of slaves to a nation of free people, from being under the thumb of Pharaoh to being in an intimate covenant with God, from eating manna in the desert to feasting on the fruits of the Promised Land. This journey took forty years and was certainly not easy.

     When the Prodigal Son finally “came to his senses,” he realized he would be better off back home as a hired worker rather than stealing slop from the pigs. His journey began from being lost to being found, from being “dead” to being a “new creation.”

     His journey did not take forty years, but how does one measure in time a journey that transforms the heart? The path to being a new creation can take forty years, or forty days, or forty minutes or even forty seconds. Sometimes it is an outer journey, but it is always an inner one. Only with God’s help is it possible.

     Jesus walks with us on our journey. Eventually we arrive at the celebration where our heavenly Father embraces us, welcoming us home. What does it mean for you to be a new creation? Think about it.

                                                                          God Bless! Fr. Joe Bacevice