PLEASE PRAY FOR THE FOLLOWING INTENTIONS
HAT’S
HAPPNING
AT ST. CASIMIR PARISH
October 4: First Friday Holy
Hour 8-9am (Church) 8: Second Tuesday Holy Hour
6-7pm (Church) 12: Mass of Anointing 5pm
(Church)
Martyrdom Let us remember the many Christians today who are suffering for their faith. #2473 Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death. The martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose, to whom he is united by doctrine. He endures death through an act of fortitude. “Let me become the food of the beasts, through whom it will be given me to reach God.” (words of St. Ignatius of Antioch) #2474 The Church has painstakingly collected the records of those who persevered to the end in witnessing to their faith. These are the acts of the Martyrs. Neither the
pleasures of the world nor the kingdoms of this age will be of any use to me.
It is better for me to die [in order to unite myself] to Christ Jesus than to
reign over the ends of the earth. I seek him who died for us; I desire him who
rose for us. My birth is approaching….
THE GRACES OF THE ROSARY Thoughts from Pope John Paul I (d. 1978, reigned for
thirty-nine days) Windthorst, a German, was invited one time
by certain friends (not practicing the Faith) to show them his beads. It was a
joke; they had previously taken them from his pocket. Windthorst, not having
found them in his left pocket, put his hand in his right pocket and came out
the victor. He always had an extra rosary! Cristofero Gluck (a great musician)
during court receptions in Vienna used to go apart a few minutes to recite his
rosary… Why do I give these examples of people
reciting the rosary? Because the rosary is contested by some. They say: it is a prayer that is infantile,
superstitious, and not worthy of a Christian adult. Or else, it is a prayer
that is automatic, reduced to a hasty repetition of Ave Marias,
monotonous and boring. The crisis of the rosary is in second
place. Before that, it is the crisis in prayer in general today. People are all
taken up in material interests. One thinks little about the soul…Donoso Cortes
said, “The world is in a bad way because there are more battles than prayers…” To be, for a half hour at least, before
God … with all my misery and with the best of myself; to let rise to the
surface from the depths of my being the child I once was, who wants to laugh,
to chatter, to love the Lord, and who sometimes feels the need to cry so that
he may be shown mercy, helps me to pray. The rosary, a simple and easy prayer,
helps me to be a child and I am not ashamed at all. I come to a final objection. The rosary is
a prayer of repetition. Father de Foucauld said, “Love is expressed with few
words, always the same and always repeated.” (found in MAGNIFICAT, October, 2013, p. 110-111) THERE’S ALWAYS A PLACE AND TIME TO SAY THE ROSARY
We had a wonderful week on our vacation.
The weather was perfect, the company congenial, and we all had a great time
together. Mom, as always, insisted on having her independence and making the Ľ
+ mile trek to the beach on her own. The very first day she didn’t show up at
the beach for quite a while, so I went looking for her. After a time I saw her
standing on the beach, looking at the waves. She very matter-of-factly
explained that in order to get to the beach she had to walk through the
beachside bar. So she found herself an empty barstool, sat down (“it was a very
nice view of the beach”) and said her morning prayers and rosary. That evening
she said, “I think I’ll go back there again for some exercise and to say my
evening prayers.” So while others are drinking tropical drinks on the beach, my
elderly mom is calmly saying her rosary, proving that one can always find a
place and time to say the rosary.
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