St. Casimir

St. Casimir is the patron saint of Lithuania and Poland. St. Casimir was actually a prince of Poland, so growing up was very tough for him, because it was almost like he wasn’t living his own life. St. Casimir always believed even when he was younger that he belonged to something much greater than just royalty, he was also very committed to God ever since a young age. For St. Casimir a life of royalty was a hard life to live because he believed that all the materialistic riches that came with that lifestyle were just temptations to make him forget his true loyalty to God. St. Casimir would rebel by not wearing fashionable clothes even though he was expected to by others, instead he would wear very plain clothes. He would also not accept many comforts in life such as sleep, for example he would spend much of his nights in prayer rather than sleeping and if he did sleep he slept on the floor and not in his bed. Whenever anyone would judge or tease St. Casimir for the choices he made in his life, St. Casimir would also remain loving, calm, merciful and friendly regardless of what they did to him. St. Casimir would not follow his own Father's plans all the time, because he believed God would not approve of them. These choices to follow God over his Father costed him time in jail. However, St. Casimir participated in God's plans fully and accepted any suffering that came with accepting God's will by praying, studying, helping the poor, and fully trusting that God knew what was best for him, even in moments of exile or when it felt as if all had gone wrong. St. Casimir died at the age of 23 in 1484 from lung disease. His feast day is celebrated on March 4th.

Prayer to St. Casimir who followed God's will even when it was hard to do:

St. Casimir please guide us to follow the will of our Father, even when it may be hard to do so or we may feel embarrassed or worried to follow it. Help us to not fall into the greed and temptations of materialistic objects and the earthly desires that this world tries to blind us with, so that we may be able to grow in a stronger relationship with our Father and Mother in heaven and stand victorious and united with our Savior Jesus Christ after our fight with temptation and suffering is over.

We ask this through Christ Our Lord.

Amen