Annual Celebration Main Celebrant: Msgr
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Read newsletter online [email protected] 2015 Issue III www.ciszek.org Annual Father Walter Celebration Ciszek Day 2015 October 25, 2015 St. Casimir’s Church 229 North Jardin Street, Shenandoah PA Annual Celebration Main Celebrant: Msgr. Ronald Bocian ALL are invited to attend our annual celebration of Rev. Walter J. Ciszek’s life, works and message. Homilist Rev. Michael Paris Adoration of Blessed Sacrament: 1:00 PM “Father Michael Paris is a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Casimir’s Church Washington DC. He is the youngest of seven children and grew up in Columbia MD. He Divine Liturgy: studied in minor seminary 2:00 P.M. in Scranton PA, NY, and St. Casimir’s Church completed his theologi- cal studies at Mount St. Social: Mary’s in Emmitsburg, 3:30 P.M. MD. He encountered the St. Casimir’s Hall writings of Father Walter Ciszek through his spiritu- Raffle Drawing: al director in college semi- 4:00 P.M. nary, Father Jeff Walsh. Opportunity to visit new center He was ordained a 5:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. priest in 2011 and spent his first four years at St COME JOIN US!!! Patrick’s Church in Rock- ville, MD. This past summer he was assigned as the assistant chaplain to the University of MD and George Washington Uni- versity. Father Ciszek has been a great spiritual guide through New Email: the years and he is so happy be able to share this day with the [email protected] other friends of Father Walter.” prayer hotline Subscriber of the Newsletter Your mailing label resembles the following: DECEASED: Giselle Berube, Rose Cheslock Name: Jan 2012 Street Health: City, State, Zip Code Lynn Cugini, Sister Mary Heffron, new great grandson The month and year that follows your name informs you when your membership/ SPECIAL INTENTIONS: subscription expires. You should pay for Jim four (4) years for which you received the REMEMBRANCE: newsletter. Eugene and Stephanie Bartoli If you move, please notify us of your For all members of the Prayer League living new address. We have to pay extra and deceased. postage when the Post Office returns your undeliverable newsletter to us. For all whose names were previously on our list, but In case of death, kindly have someone who are still in need of our prayers; for all those who have requested prayers of the League; for all prayer notify the League to cancel your league members, for all those who are praying through subscription. the intercession of Father Walter Ciszek; and for all who need our prayers. God bless you and thank you! We are now on Facebook! PRAYER FOR A FAVOR www.facebook.com/FatherWalterCiszek THROUGH THE INTERCESSION OF FATHER WALTER CISZEK, S.J. “For/From the Friends of Walter Ciszek, S.J.” _____________ A Publication of the Father Walter Ciszek Prayer League Official Organization for the Promotion of the Cause of A lmighty God, we love, adore Canonization of Father Walter Ciszek, S.J. and praise You as our Creator 18 Oak Street and Loving Father. Look with Shenandoah, PA 17976 compassion and mercy upon us. Hear our prayer in this time Editor: Daniel L. Flaherty, S.J. of special need and through the Executive Editor : Elaine Cusat intercession of Father Walter Co-Postulators: Msgr. Anthony D. Muntone, Ciszek, grant the following favor Rev. Thomas F. Sable, S.J., if it is Your Holy Will. Circulation Manager Sister Doris Burkot, O.S.F. (Mention the Request) Business Manager Elaine Cusat Most loving God, accept our gratitude for hearing this prayer. May the knowledge of the virtues and holiness of Father “Friends of Walter Ciszek, S.J.” is published four times a year for Walter be recognized and known to provide a lasting example friends and contributors to the Father Walter Ciszek Prayer League. to draw sinners to reconciliation and to lead souls to sanctity. Copies mailed from Shenandoah, PA. For a subscription, write: The For You are our God and we are Your people and we glorify Prayer League, 18 Oak Street, Shenandoah, PA 17976. Current cost is You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. $10 a year. Manuscripts should be sent to: Editor, Prayer League, 18 Amen. Oak Street, Shenandoah, PA 17976; please include a stamped, self- addressed return envelope. For changes of address or problems with your Please inform the Prayer League of any special favors from subscription write: Circulation Manager, The Prayer League, 18 Oak Father Walter Ciszek. Street, Shenandoah, PA 17976. Postmaster, please return undeliverable copies to The Prayer League, 18 Oak Street, Shenandoah, PA 17976. 2 Father Walter Ciszek Prayer League Spanish Translation of He Leadeth Me Published Review #1---Paraula 19-abril-15 Testimonial “He Leadeth Me” Walter J. Ciszek Palabra, 256 pages Walter Ciszek, North American Jesuit, arrived in Russia with 25 other people in Boxcar 89725, from the Polish city of Albertyn. His goal was to spread the word of God in Russia. But soon after establishing himself in Teplaya Gora, he was discovered and detained by the secret police. Accused of espionage, he was transferred to the dreaded Moscow prison of Lubianka where he remained during the years of World War II, and was later sentenced to 15 years forced labor in Siberia. Finally, in 1963, he was exchanged for 2 Russian spies and was able to return to the United States. In this book, he reveals the reason for his survival and gives testament to his life of prayer by which he overcame loneliness, pain, fear, and desperation. In 1990 his beatification process was started. Today he is a Servant of God. Review #4---Rev. Cristiandad Mayo 2015 “He Leadeth Me” Author: Walter J. Ciszek, Daniel L. Flaherty Publisher: Palabra 256 pages This North American Jesuit, Servant of God, entered Russia from the Polish city of Albertyn, which had been taken over by the Red Army. During the years of World War II, he remained in the Moscow prison of Lubianka, and was later sentenced to 15 years of forced labor in a Siberian gulag. In the book, he reveals the reason for his survival - the total surrender to the will of God - and gives testament to his life of prayer by which he overcame his loneliness. Review #5---Agenda de la Empresa Andaluza Junio 2015 He Leadeth Me: Memories of a Jesuit in the Gulag Walter J. Ciszek with Daniel L. Flaherty Palabra - 254 pages Walter Ciszek, a North American Jesuit, was captured by the Red Army from the Polish city of Albertyn and arrived in Russia with 25 other people in Boxcar 89725, with the goal of spreading the word of God. He was imprisoned, accused of espionage, trapped in the Moscow prison of Lubianka during all of World War II, and sentenced to 15 years of forced labor in the prison camps of Siberia. Exchanged for 2 Russian spies, he was freed in 1963, and returned to the United States. Father Walter Ciszek Prayer League 3 Fr. Ciszek and the North American Martyrs: Reflections on Sinfulness and the Love of God By John M. DeJak On August 4, 1964, Fr. Ciszek began his annual eight-day retreat in preparation for his final vows, which he would take on the Feast of Our Lady’s Assumption, August 15, 1964. The site for this particular retreat was the Shrine of the North American Martyrs (also known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs), in Auriesville, New York. It is built on the site of Ossernenon, a small Indian village on the south bank of the Mohawk River. St. Kateri Tekakwitha was from this village and it was the inhabitants of this village who ultimately killed St. Isaac Jogues, St. Rene Goupil and their fellow Jesuit companions in the 17th century. The Shrine has long been a spot for prayer and meditation for the faithful across the country. There is something mystical about the place. When one arrives, he feels the centuries in his bones. Looking across the expanse towards the Mohawk River and seeing the sharp incline below from the height of old village of Ossernenon, one can’t help but feel the need for silence when meditating upon the events of that spot. It was there, down the sharp incline, that the Jesuit saints were forced to “run the gauntlet”—running up and down the hill while being stoned with sharp rocks and lacerated by blades and spears of the savage tribe. Upon that holy spot now lies a circle of rocks—possibly from the same era—now configured into a rosary. The Jesuits have long cultivated devotion to these holy places, having erected a coliseum-style church in 1930, no doubt reminding the faithful of today that the suffering of the 17th century Jesuit martyrs had a mystical relation to the suffering of the early Christians in Rome’s Flavian Amphitheater. Not far away from the shrine church is a ravine. As one walks down the ravine, there is an eerie silence. One encounters at the base of the ravine a small altar commemorating the area—the exact spot still unknown—where St. Rene Goupil’s body was dismembered and thrown to be consumed by wild animals and the ravages of time. The place and the moment of one’s visit cannot but call forth emotion for the one who irrigated the land with his blood, so that the seed of faith could bloom in North America. And so it was, in August 1964, that Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J., fellow Jesuit with the martyrs, came to the place of their tortures and death.