March 4, Second Sunday of Lent
ST. CASIMIR OF POLAND (b Cracow 1458, d Vilnius 1483), Confessor
Patron Saint of Poland and Lithuania, Patron of Young People
He was born in Cracow's Wawel Castle, to King Casimir III of the Jagiellon dynasty, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the
Holy Roman Emperor Albert II Hapsburg. From childhood, he chose to live a higly-disciplined severe life and vowed himself to
lifelong celibacy. When he was 15, the nobles of Hungary were dissatisfied with their king, they asked King Casimir to send his
son to be their king. The young Casimir went eagerly, but the army at his disposal was weak and in no position to withstand
a threatened Turkish invasion. He fled back to Poland, returned to his studies, and vowed never again to be involved in any war.
He served as regent of Poland in 1481-1482 when his father was away, and he was said to have ruled with prudence and justice.
In 1483, while on a visit to Lithuania, of which he was the Grand Duke, he succumbed to a lung disease. He was buried in
Vilnius. Several miracles were quickly ascribed to him, and he was canonized in 1522, and in 1948, Pope Pius XII declared him
a patron saint for young people.
Readings for today's Mass:
usccb.org/bible/readings/030412.cfm
WITH THE HOLY FATHER TODAY
Pastoral visit to San Giovanni Battista de La Salle parish in Rome - In his homily, the Pope commented on the two readings today on the concept of sacrifice - Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, and God himself sending his own Son to be sacrifice; as well as the Gospel on the Transfiguration as a preparation for the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, taking us from 'from Mount Tabor to Golgotha'.
Sunday Angelus - The Holy Father reflected how in the first Sunday of Lent, we contemplated Jesus in the desert, exposed to the temptations of Satan, and this Sunday, we see him on the mountain, transfigured by his heavenly Father - both places of prayer. The Transfiguration, he said, reminds us that Jesus is our unfailing interior light who guides us even in the darkest night.
P.S. I was taken aback by the report of the Pope's activities this morning in the English service of Vatican Radio that specifically says today is the Feast of the Transfiguration! "Sunday 4th of March is also the feast of the Transfiguration..." Although today's Gospel is on the Transfiguration, the Feast itself is observed on August 6. It's yet another regrettable instance of lack of editorial supervision at RV's English service. (I can't say about the rest of the language services because I don't follow them as regularly as I do the English service).
OR today.
Illustration: Ascent to the empyrean, Hieronymus Bosch, 1504.
Benedict XVI at the conclusion of the Lenten spiritual exercises at the Vatican:
'Towards the light'
He recalls retreat master Cardinal Pasinya's story of a friend who survived coma
to describe his near-death experience as light and music at the end of a tunnel.
The back page is dedicated to the Pope's concluding remarks at the spiritual exercises, Cardinal Pasinya's final meditation for the retreat, and a report on Cardinal Bertone's homily on the bishop as a humble servant, delivered when he ordained the new Nuncio to Zambia, Archbishop Julio Murat. Page 1 stories: Vladimir Putin's expected victory to a new term as President of Russia; parliamentary elections in Iran; and a new global survey finds that 2.67 billion persons suffer from water scarcity at least one month every year because of droughts and the consequent drying up of major river basins.
This time last year...
- Pre-release buzz on JESUS OF NAZARETH, Vol. II, dominated papal news, after the publication of excerpts in which the Pope reiterates Catholic teaching since the Council of Trent that 'the Jews' were not responsible for the execution of Jesus - something most Catholics themselves were not aware of, although it is also in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless, it was treated as worldwide big news, and Israeli government leaders thanked the Pope for his statements.
- Shahbaz Bhatti, the Catholic Minister for Minorities of Pakistan, was assassinated on a street in Islamabad. There have been moves since then to propose him for beatification for having been killed 'in odium of the faith'.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/03/2012 05:29]