VESTNIK 2022 | VESTNIK 2022 | 99 VESTNIK 2022 | 101 VESTNIK 2022 | 103 4. POSTNA NEDELJA 4TH SUNDAY OF LENT SLOVENSKA ŽUPNIJA SV. GREGORIJA VELIKEGA | ST. GREGORY THE GREAT SLOVENIAN CHURCH 13/58 Številka - Number / Leto - Year 27.3. 2022 Fr. Drago Gacnik, SDB ŽUPNIK - PASTOR NASLOV - ADDRESS 125 Centennial Pkwy N. Hamilton, ON L8E 1H8 PHONE: 905-561-5971 CELL: 905-520-2014 E-MAIL gregory_sdb@ stgregoryhamilton.ca WEB PAGE www.carantha.com HALL RENTALS CELL: 905-518-6159 E-MAIL hallrental@ stgregoryhamilton.ca VESTNIK V središce današnje liturgije je postavljen biser Lukovega evangelija, to je prilika o iz-gubljenem sinu, ali bolje, o ocetovi razsipni ljubezni. To je cudovita predstavitev življenj-ske poti, najprej zaznamovane z grehom in potem na novo vzpostavljene v spreobrnjenju in koncno poglobljene v miru in veselju. Jezus v tej priliki zarisuje ozracje v katerem se vsi prepoznamo. V srciki pripovedi je božje caka-nje, njegova neutrudljiva ljubezen. Velika mistikinja je takole molila: »O, ljub-ljeni mojega srca, nicesar nimam razen tebe; bodi danes usmiljen z grešnico, ki prihaja k tebi. O, moje upanje, moj pocitek in veselje, srce noce ljubiti drugega kot tebe, kajti tvoja ljubezen je neunicljiva in nas ne boš nikoli zapustil.« Lukova prilika je podobna triptihu, kjer so upodobitve skrbno pove-zane druga z drugo. Prva slika je predgovor zgodbe, in ne, kot se je po-gosto domnevalo, njen bistveni del. Bistvo prilike ni pripoved o neki kri-zi, temvec zgodba »vrnitve«. Hebrejska beseda dobesedno pomeni »vrnitev«, grška beseda »metanoein« - »spremeniti mišljenje« - nakazu-je prav obrnitev smeri, kar stori beduinski pastir, ki se obrne k oazi, se-veda takrat, ko se zave, da hodi po poti, ki ga vodi stran od vode. »Naša hoja je dalec od tebe, o Gospod,« je zapisal sv. Avguštin, ko je iskal dru-gacno pot in drugo izkušnjo. Središce prve slike triptiha v priliki je torej odlocitev, spreobrnjenje: »Vstal bom in se vrnil k ocetu.« Potem, ko je ugotovil, da je ta nacin živ-ljenja nepravilna, se odrasel, zrel in odgovoren clovek odloci in »se vr-ne« k Bogu, ki ga je vedno pricakoval. Zdaj pridemo do drugega prizora v priliki, kjer prevladuje podoba oceta, ki skrbno opazuje samotno pot, ki upa proti upanju. Bog nas pri-cakuje, ceprav smo blodili kot izgubljene ovce; on je središcna oseba, ki se vedno bolj razodeva kot zgodba o nikoli naceti in nikdar ugasli ljubezni. Kakor hitro oce zagleda podobo sina v daljavi, mu pohiti naproti, da bi ga objel. Kot pravijo nje-gove prve pozdravne besede sinu, gre za smrt, ki se je preoblikovala v življenje, zabloda pa se je spremenila v veselo srecanje. V naporu, ki ga vse-buje vsakršno spreobrnjenje, je tudi gotovost, da nismo nikoli sami, da nikakor ne tvegamo, da bi na koncu poti naleteli na zaprta vrata ali pa oce-ta, ki je nepopustljiv sodnik in brez usmiljenja. Tako prihajamo k tretji podobi te pripovedi, kjer je v središcu starejši brat. Ta je sicer dobro misleci clovek, ki je zadovoljen s svojo dozdevno poštenostjo, pa vendar postane hladen in nepriza-nesljiv sodnik svojega brata. Starejši brat meni, da se morajo spreobrniti le tisti ubožci, ki jih on kriticno in vzvišeno presoja, pac, po njegovem, v skladu s svojo obcudujoco in vsega priznanja vredno pravicnostjo. Razmišlja tako, kot razmišljajo farizeji vseh casov: »Zahvaljujem se ti, Gospod, ker nisem tak kot vsi drugi ljudje, roparji, krivicniki, prešuštniki ...« Tr-dno je preprican, da ima pred Bogom veliko v do-brem. Vendar Pavlova obtožba brez usmiljenja zadene tudi tovrstne družbene sloje: »Vsi so greši-li«. Tudi tisti, ki so ostali v ocetovi hiši, potrebujejo odpušcanje in ljubezen, kajti »vsi so grešili in so brez Božje milosti« (Rim 3,23). Bogoslužje današnje nedelje je klic k spreobr-njenju in pokori, vendar pa je tudi osrecujoca go-tovost, da clovek ne ostane sam, niti takrat, ko se zavestno zapre in oddalji od Boga. Gre za spev božje ljubezni in odpušcanja, ki pozabi na mašce-vanje in preseže hladno pravicnost. Ta pesem lah-ko postane tudi notranje vodilo vsake mocne iz-kušnje v duhovnosti. Favstina Kowalska zapiše: »Tudi ce bi bili naši grehi crni kot noc, je božje usmiljenje mocnejše kot naša revšcina. Potrebna je le ena stvar: grešnik naj pusti vsaj nekoliko pri-prta vrata svojega srca, ostalo bo naredil Bog. Vsaka stvar ima zacetek v tvojem usmiljenju in se v tvojem usmiljenju tudi zakljuci.« (Prim. Oznanjevalec -leto C_2006/7, štev. 3) Veselje sprave z Bogom 98 | VESTNIK 2022 100 | VESTNIK 2022 102 | VESTNIK 2022 104 | VESTNIK 2022 4TH SUNDAY OF LENT Response: Taste and see that the Lord is good. First Reading Joshua 5:9-12 The shame of Egypt is taken away but not the memory of Egypt, which will sustain the new life. Second Reading 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 The creation of humanity is not yet com-plete but it continues as an act of reconcili-ation in Christ. Gospel Luke 15:1-3. 11-32 The story of the prodigal son is not just his story. It is the story of a whole family; in-deed it is the story of the family of human-kind. “Your brother here was dead and has come to life.” Illustration One of the big problems with funerals, as any funeral director knows, is not the attitude of the family to the deceased person but the attitude of those who come to mourn to each other. A Cath-olic funeral is an act of mercy by its nature, which is what the Catholics who come to a funeral should always keep in mind. They come to pray for the dead, which means that God has put God’s own mercy at our disposal. Not absolutely, of course, as if we could stand in the way of God’s mercy, but the way God forgives is left, to some extent, in our hands. Yet forgiving the dead is easier than forgiving the living. Or to put it another way, forgiving the living might be more real than our forgiving the dead. As for the dead forgiving us, either they forgive everyone or they forgive no one. Funeral directors become very adept at managing this lack of forgiveness. They make sure that wives and ex-wives are not seated together, for instance. In one case, when a priest was asked not to pray for some-one who was living with the deceased, who had left his wife for her, he simply refused to comply. He said that he would bend a lot at funerals, but wouldn’t ever refuse to pray for someone – if he did so, he would stop being a servant of Christ. In the end, that worked out well. If this seems too negative, it’s im-portant to remember that funerals can also be a time and place for reconciliation of a sort. At least for a moment, people remember how unimportant our little squabbles are. Gospel Teaching What comes first, justice or mercy? You might think that mercy comes first because you have to do something wrong before you can be shown mercy. That might be true for people, but it is not true for God. That is because God always knows what God intends to do. So even in God’s creating us there is a sort of mercy, which was what St Thomas Aquinas thought. Mercy is the desire for the happiness of someone else. No one is made by God to be unhap-py, but we have our choices. Justice is, therefore, never a final end, but people get stuck with justice because they won’t accept mercy. The story of the prodigal son is a parable about mercy, but it is not a human mercy. Human mercy needs something to forgive, whereas God does not. Human mercy also comes from our own sinfulness, which is not the case with God. God’s mercy comes into this world as forgiveness, but that is down to us and our human behaviour. God does not need us to sin in order to show us love. So in the parable the elder son is loved perfectly by the father but somehow has lost sight of that. It is inter-esting that some of the words of the fa-ther to the elder son are very similar to the words of Jesus to his heavenly Father in the Gospel of St John. The words of the father to the elder son in the para-ble, “you are with me always and all I have is yours”, can be compared to Jesus’ words to the Father in the Gospel of St John, “all I have is yours and all you have is mine”. The mercy of God is the love of the persons of the Trinity for each other, shared with humanity. Mercy is the most godlike of all virtues. Application Mercy starts with prayer, because mercy starts with God. It is the fundamental purpose of God for all God’s creation, so we cannot really be merciful with-out prayer. In a family, in our friendships, in our workplaces, we need to be merciful, and that means having a power that is from God alone. Gestures and actions help, but unless we are convinced we are carrying out God’s work in being merciful, we will fail. This is why forgiveness is at the heart of the Lord’s Prayer and why a life of prayer is always a life of mercy. To put it another way, we might start from our own heart in committing ourselves to a course of action, but if we wish to commit ourselves to mercy, we must start from the heart of God, from the life of the Holy Trinity. Cilj naše kampanje je v treh letih zbrati vsoto $200,000.00 za našo župni-jo. Nekateri še vedno ne razumejo, da vse, kar boste darovali preko te kampa-nje, bo prejela naša župnija in še 10% iz skupnega sklada. Škofijski uradi pa bo-do vodili vse racunovodske zadeve, tako, da nam ne bo potrebno tega dela urejati. V Vestniku objavimo koliko ste »obljubili« da boste darovali za kampa-njo za našo župnijo preko škofijskega racuna in koliko je že dejansko »vplacanega«. Iz škofije so nam sedaj poslali kodo, da lahko sami pogledamo tekoce stanje na našem racunu. Na racunu »Eno Srce, Ena Duša« - »One Heart, One Soul« za našo slo-vensko župnijo sv. Gregorija Velike-ga je: $128,543. - Pledged - March 25, 2022 $104,683. - Paid - Mrch 25, 2022 Hvala vsem, ki ste že prispevali. Smo že krepko cez polovico zastav-ljenega cilja. Tokrat so se številke kar dvignile. Curbside Food and Bake Sale Saturday, April 9, 2022 Slovenian Breaded Chicken with Home Fries and Coleslaw, $20 Oven-Roasted Pork with Home Fries and Coleslaw, $20 Apple Strudel (unbaked, frozen), 24-inch length (limited quantities), $20 Lipa Park would like to thank COBS Bread, Ridley Square, for their packaging donations for our stru-del sales! Potica (baked, frozen) * Whole (approx. 10-inch across) $40 Half (cut that morning) $20 *only a very small quantity available/limit one per cus-tomer Slovenian Wine, $25 per bottle: Janževec (white, 1L, sugar code 0) Ranina (white, 750 ml, sugar code 1) Modra Frankinja (red, 750 ml) (Must be 19 years or older to purchase wine) Pre-Orders only from March 28 to March 30 by email only: info@lipapark.ca Please specify the name of the person who will be picking up the order. You will receive a confirmation email after ordering with your pick-up time, and total cost. Please bring cheque or exact change on pick-up day. Thank you for your support! CONFESSION By Fr. Steve Ryan, SDB It’s Lent. Here’s an old-fashioned Catholic idea: go to confession before Easter. In our world today, many Christians regard confession as an unimportant act of piety, if not mere ceremony. The practice of going to this wonderful sacrament has disap-peared. Why? Lots of reasons: we don’t have a sense of sin as being something offensive to God. We are un-catechized about the importance of the grace we receive from sacraments. We don’t want to re-pent – so why should we confess? Some of the blame also rests on our parishes and schools for not promoting con-fession. How often do you hear messages from the pulpit or in the parish bulletins about going to confession? How many of our Catholic schools schedule confession? Many parishes don’t offer weekly opportunities for the sacra-ment but “by appointment” only! Who wants to make an appointment to receive God’s mercy? For those of us who do frequently or even occasionally go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation – we need to work harder to amend our lives. It’s time to get serious about fighting the devil’s temptations, and fight against spiritual mediocrity. Be thoroughly convinced of the immense importance of this sacrament. Be filled with an earnest desire of ap-proaching it worthily, taking care and giving attention to doing a good examen in preparation for this great duty. If we truly desire to obtain eternal salvation, the Sacra-ment of Reconciliation along with the Eucharist are the great tools for holiness offered by the Church. Confession is one of the seven sacraments instituted by Christ for us sinners. This means that all people who have committed mortal sin after baptism can hope to save their souls by confession. Thank God for the salve-tion and mercy of Christ who cleanses us from all the stains of our sins. His divine forgiveness is dispensed to us by the priest in the moment of absolution. It’s a good old-fashioned Catholic idea that hasn’t been cancelled. Go to confession before Easter. Get on the voters' list Your vote is your voice. When you cast your vote, you're declaring your support of Catholic education. On October 24th, 2022, make sure your voice is heard. Visit voterlookup.ca to confirm that your name is on the Preliminary List of Electors for the upcoming municipal and school board elections. If you haven't declared your Catholic school support, by default your property taxes are directed to the municipality's English pub-lic school board. As a property owner in Ontar-io, you're entitled to direct your school sup-port to English separate Catholic — which, in Hamilton, is the Hamilton-Wentworth Catho-lic District School Board. Learn more about school support. (Changing Your School Sup-port I MPAC) As a registered Separate school supporter, you have a say in who will represent your inter-ests at the school board and other levels of gov-ernment. You don't have to have children in a Catholic school to register as a Separate school supporter ... you only have to be Catholic. Have your say. Log onto voterlookup.ca today. For more information, please contact Ni-cole Baldini, Assessment Clerk, HWCDSB at 905-525­2930, Ext. 2006 or baldinin@hwcdsb.ca, the City of Hamilton at 905-546-2424, Ext. 4408, or M PAC at 1-866-296-6722. OBVESTILA - ANNOUNCEMENTS CIŠCENJE CERKVE - CLEANING OF THE CHURCH April 2nd Lukežic, Volcanšek April 16th Jožica Vegelj and team April 30th Gosgnach team DRUŠTVO SV. JOŽEFA Na mizi v cerkveni veži so ku-verte za clane društva sv. Jožefa. V kuverti je izkaznica za leto 2022. Dajte denar za clanarino ($15) v kuverto in kuverto oddajte v nabi-ralnik za nedeljsko nabirko. SUNDAY MASSES From Palm Sunday April 10, 2022 and on we will go back to two Sunday Masses. Slove-nian at 9:30 a.m. and English at 11:00 a.m. Od 10. aprila naprej, t.j. od Cvetne nedelje, bomo zopet imeli ob nedeljah dve sveti maši: slovensko ob 9:30 a.m. in angleško ob 11:00 a.m.. Povejte tudi tistim, ki morda ne pridejo tako redno, da bodo vedeli za spremembo. CONFIRMATION & FRIST COMMUNION This year our celebration of both sacra-ment will take place on Sunday, May 29th, 2022, at 10:00 a.m.. The Most Rev. Bishop Douglas Crosby will be the celebrant. Please let us know ASAP which children would like to be part of cele-bration. You can email to me, drago.gacnik@gmail.com or Lorie Mramor: princesslorie2000@hotmail.com SLOVENIAN EMBASSY OTTAWA Please note that from March 1st, 2022, it is a new email: consular.ottawa@gov.si for all consular enquiries and transactions. Veleposlaništvo Republike Slovenije v Ottawi: 150 Metcalfe St., Suite #2200 Ottawa, ON, K2P 1P1, Canada Tel: 1-613-565-5781 www.ottawa.veleposlanistvo.si Dežurna številka za nujne primere sloven-skih državljanov: 1-613-292-6041 Generalni konzulat Toronto John Doma, Castni generalni konzul jdoma@sloveniacg.com 5096 South Service Road, Suite 102 Burlington, Ontario, L7L 5H4 Canada, +1-416-201-8307 GIFT BEARERS Now that we are able to worship together in person, without restrictions, we will restart the Gift Bearer tradition at St. Gregory’s on Palm Sunday at the 9:30am Slovenian Mass. If you would like to volunteer, please sign up on the chart in the foyer, or give your name to Pamela. HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY to His Excellency Bishop Matthew Ustrzycki! His birthday is March 25th, the Patronal Feast of the Diocese of Hamilton. Bishop Ustrzycki has given his life in service to the Diocese of Hamilton, from Parish Associate, to Pastor, to Rector of the Cathedral, and to Auxiliary Bishop (40th Anni-versary next year!). His love for the Church, his service to the faithful, and his fraternal con- cern for the Priests of the Diocese, have made him the beloved Bishop he is. We wish you good health and much happiness. Ad multos annos! THE CANADIAN CATHOLIC ORGANIZA-TION FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE (CCODP) financially supports development and aid projects in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It also provides information to Canadian Catholics on international social justice questions. NEXT Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, also called Solidarity Sunday, a special collection is held in Parishes across the Diocese to support the many projects and programs of CCODP. The Diocese of Hamilton has always been strong in our support of the Organization. Because of the COVID challenges of the past two years, our support is more important than ever! Please be especially generous this year! DAROVI - DONATIONS Za gradbeni sklad je darovala $50 Olga Slobodnik. Neimenovana oseba je darovala Društvu sv. Jožefa $100; društvo pa je to vsoto darovalo za potrebe naše cerkve. Iskrena hvala za vaš dar. POKOJNI - DECEASED 22. marca 2022 se je poslovil s tega sveta Mario Medica, star 85 let. Po-kojni je bil dolgoletni clan društva Sava. Pokojni bo ležal v Henry Walser Funeral Home, Kitchener, v soboto, 2. aprila. Od njega se boste lahko poslo-vili med 12:00 in 12:45 p.m., nato bo sledil pogrebni obred v kapeli po-grebnega zavoda. Pokojnega bomo položili k vecnemu pocitku na Woodland pokopališce. Iskreno sožalje ženi Olgi in njeni družini, po-kojnemu pa vecni mir in pokoj. 24. aprila 2022 je odšel k Bogu po vecno placilo Ivan Glavac, oce naše faranke Jenny Antolin. Bil je clan slovenske skupnosti in župnije v Montrealu. Od njega se boste lahko poslovili v ne-deljo 27. marca v J.A. Guilba-ult Funeral Home med eno in peto uro popoldne. Pogrebna maša bo v ponedeljek, 28. marca ob 10h do-poldne v slovenski župniji Sv. Vladimirja v Montrealu. Iskreno sožalje ženi Ani in otrokom z družinami, pokojnemu Ivanu pa vecni mir in pokoj. OBCNI ZBOR - AGM Danes po maši imamo letni obcni zbor; na obisku pa je Dr. Helena Jaklitsch, ministrica za Slovence v zamejstvu in po svetu. Dobrodošla v naši sredi. Heart to Heart SVETE MAŠE - MASS TIMES: Monday to Friday: 7:00 P.M., Saturday: 5:30 P.M. (Slovenian-Sunday Mass); Sunday: 10:00 A.M. (Slovenian-English - For the time of Covid-19 it is only one Mass on Sundays) - KRSTI / BAPTISMS: For an appointment, call one month before. POROKE / MARRIAGE: For an appointment, call one year before the wedding date. SPOVED / CONFES-SIONS: First Friday of the month 6 -7:00 P.M. (or by appointment) BOLNIKI - Sporocite, ce je kdo bolan ali v bolnišnici, da ga obišcemo. You are welcome to call for a personal conversation with your priest – please call for an appointment. Tel: 905-561-5971. DON BOSCO V tem tednu so naslednje obletnice smrti faranov, ki so zapisani v naših knjigah: Hajdinjak Rudolf Rudi March 28, 1987 Pavlich Marjan March 28, 2007 Rapozo Joseph March 29, 1984 Mlinarich Marija March 30, 1993 Osterman Antoinet April 1, 1965 Gyorkoš Walburga April 1, 2016 Volf Karel April 2, 2019 Zelko Marija April 3, 1997 SVETE MAŠE - MASSES 27. 3. 2022 - 3. 4. 2022 4. POSTNA NEDELJA 4TH SUNDAY OF LENT 27. MAREC RUPERT, ŠKOF † † † †† †† † † † Za žive in rajne župljane Ana Ferencak Marija Dominko Alojz Prilesnik Jožef in Emilija Balažic Pokojni starši Zagorc Juraj Fabina Martin Glavac, obl. Viktor Glavac OBCNI ZBOR - AGM 10:00 A.M. 11:00 A.M. ------------- Franc in Ljudmila Zadravec Franc in Ljudmila Zadravec Žena Marija z družino Hci z družino Hci Jožica Erzar z družino Matthew & Mary Glavac z družino Matthew & Mary Glavac z družino Matthew & Mary Glavac z družino Po maši v cerkvi PONEDELJEK - MONDAY 28. MAREC, Bojan, knez † Zoltan Gergyek 7:00 P.M. Milka in Karol Ferko TOREK - TUESDAY 29. MAREC, Bertold, red. † Milka Skale 7:00 P.M. Tone in Iva Kastelic SREDA - WEDNESDAY 30. MAREC, Amadej, vojvoda † † † Hilda Žigon Ema Mencigar Edward Madronich, obl. 7:00 P.M. Jožica Novak z družino Matilda Zupancic Žena z družino CETRTEK - THURSDAY 31. MAREC, Kornelija, muc. † † Ignac Horvat Angela Zorko, obl. 7:00 P.M. Rozina Horvat Sin Mirko z družino PRVI PETEK - FIRST FRIDAY 1. APRIL Irena in Agapa, muc. †† † Križev pot - Stations of the Cross Pokojni iz družine Svašnik Zoltan Gergyek 6:30 P.M. 7:00 P.M. Ana Gergyek Družina Dragaš SOBOTA - SATURDAY 2. APRIL Francišek Paolski, red. ust. Teodozija, mucenka † † † †† † † † †† Adolf Košir Marija Bukvic Marija Ifko Rudi (obl.) in Terezija Hajdinjak Marija Kociper Karel Volf, obl. Frank Verdinšek Jožef in Marija Heric 5:30 P.M. Marija Košir Anton Bukvic z družino Alojz in Agata Sarjaš Dragica in Lojze Ferencak z druž. Žena Marija Marija Volf (Barlake) Hci Anica Miklavcic 5. POSTNA-TIHA NEDELJA 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT 3. APRIL SIKST I., PAPEŽ-MUCENEC †† † † † † † † † †† †† †† Za žive in rajne župljane Pok. starši, bratje in sestre (Slo) Marija Mrak Ante Cule Franc Raduha Maks Pavlic Za Zdravje Jože Konte Jože Konte Jože Konte Pok. iz družine Škrban Pok. iz družine Žižek Pok iz družin Kisner in Sagadin 10:00 A.M. ------------- Aranka Dundek Milka Pavlic z družino Anica Miklavcic z družino Družina Raduha Družina Raduha N.N. Martin in Anica Škrban Vera in Jožko Rajner Ivan in Irena Kelenc Martin in Anica Škrban Anica in Martin Škrban Julija Sagadin z družino