July 18, 2010

Now that the summer is in full swing it is wonderful for all of us to find the time to rest and catch up on some recreational reading. This is exactly what I plan on doing as I leave for my holidays in a week. I will be away from July 27 until August 17. Fr. Oehring will stay behind to take care of the parish needs. Have a great summer and I’ll see you all in the second half of August.

Fr. Kuzma

July 4, 2010

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated in our St. Aloysius Family Picnic on June 27. It was wonderful to see so many members of our parish come and join together for some food, fun and entertainment. I want to extend my special thanks to everyone involved in the organizing of this event: St. Aloysius Men’s Group (under the leadership of David Grzesiak), Catholic Women’s League, St. Aloysius Youth Group, our musicians under the leadership of Dan Brown, and Gerard Dietrich and his magic show. For everyone who has helped, thank you! My hope is that we will make this into an annual event which will keep growing.

Fr. Kuzma

June 6, 2010

On this Solemnity of Corpus Christi we are invited to renew our faith in and reverence to our Blessed Lord present in the Most Holy Eucharist.  Here are a few reflections for our consideration:

When and how to receive Communion
If we truly believe that what we receive at the end of Mass is truly the body and blood of Christ, not a symbol, but really Jesus, then what should follow is a good examination of how we celebrate this great gift of Jesus Himself.  Does our participation in the Eucharist reflect our belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist?

Get rid of serious sin first
The teaching of Christ and the Church has been consistent from the very beginning until today, that no one who is in grave sin is to approach the table of the Lord.  And so we are called to examine our lives before we come to Mass and see if we are able to receive Holy Communion.  And if we find that we have broken one of God’s commandments we are to first receive forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession. 

Why is it so important that we do not receive communion in serious sin?  Because it can do us more harm than good.  One of the prayers during Mass that a priest says quietly before receiving communion is this one: “Lord Jesus Christ, with faith in your love and mercy I eat your body and drink your blood, Let it not bring me condemnation but health in mind and body”.  Even when we live in sin, whether it is in a marriage that has not been blessed by God in the Church, or in contradiction to the teachings of God and His Church, the priest will not stop up from receiving Holy Communion.  But we must remember that when we abuse this sacrament we are disrespecting God Himself and are doing great harm to ourselves.  We end up committing an even greater sin by disregarding the Church’s teaching with respect to Holy Communion. Why, when it is so easy to receive Christ and His forgiveness by coming to confession and changing our lives? 

Church etiquette
When we reflect on the mystery of Holy Communion, if we truly believe that it is Jesus that we are receiving at Mass, then our participation at Mass should reflect that.  And so there are a few things that I would like to point out as Church etiquette. 
Arrivals and departures - As much as possible trying to arrive on time and not leaving before the final blessing.  I know that there are legitimate circumstances when sometimes we might have to do this.  But when we make this a habit what are we telling God?  “One hour a week is too long, I have things to do.  I gave you what you wanted, or almost what you wanted, I’m better than many others, what else do you want?”  That is hardly an attitude of gratefulness for what Christ gives us.  Why not make an effort to come a few minutes early to prepare for Mass and stay a few minutes after Mass to thank God for this gift.
Eucharistic Fast - The Church asks us to prepare for the Eucharist even before we come, just as we would prepare for meeting Christ in person.  One of the ways we do this is by keeping a Eucharistic Fast.  This means that we are to refrain from food or drink (with the exception of water and medication) for one hour before the Eucharist. Chewing gum not only breaks the fast, but is also very inappropriate at Mass and limits our participation.
Conscious and Active participation - Our entire Mass in celebrated in such a way so as to prepare us for the worthy reception of Holy Communion.  This is why active participation is so important, and by active participation the Church asks us to sing together, pray together, listen together (but not to chew gum together).  If you don’t know the prayers, we have books available in every seat to help you learn and, if you try you will know them very quickly.  As you probably know, Mass does not change that much from week to week.
Receiving Communion - When it is time to receive Holy Communion let us take great care to receive respectfully.  When a minister says the “The body of Christ” the response should be one of faith and conviction -- “Amen”, and not “thanks” or “Ok”, but AMEN which means “I believe that this is Jesus, I believe that He is here for me, and I desire Him in my life”.  Our interior disposition should be reflected by our external actions of great love and respect. 

The greater the gift, the greater the responsibility to use it properly and with utmost respect.  The gift of the Most Holy Eucharist is the greatest treasure that we possess.  This is why we are to take great care in how we receive it.  May we never grow lazy or indifferent when it comes to Our Lord present in the Eucharist, but treasure that Gift by the way we celebrate every Mass of our lives.                         

Fr. Kuzma

May 30, 2010

Every Catholic Parish has as its goal bringing people closer to God through preaching the Good News, teaching the commandments of God, and bringing people closer to God through the sacraments.  All of this is possible with the help of many dedicated parishioners who assist priests in serving the good people of our area.  Here at St. Aloysius we have many volunteers who offer their time and talent helping to build the Kingdom of God.  I wish to publicly thank them all for what they do with a Volunteer Appreciation Evening this Friday, June 4th. 
This week we also welcome to our parish Fr. Jeff Oehring who has been assigned as an Associate Pastor to St. Aloysius Parish.  Fr. Oehring has been ordained a priest on May 1st of this year, and this will be his first appointment.  Let us welcome Fr. Oehring with great joy as we thank God for the gift of this new priest in our parish.

Fr. Kuzma

April 25, 2010

It is this time of year for the young people of our parish to celebrate the sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation. For the next four weeks we will be celebrating these sacraments with grade 2 and grade 6 children of our parish. Please keep these young people in your prayers during these important events in their lives. We have also begun preparing for the celebrations of St. Aloysius Feast Day, which is on June 11. This year we wish to celebrate by putting a special focus on the Year of the Family. This is why I ask you to please join us for a special St. Aloysius Family Picnic, which will be held on the grounds of our church on Sunday, June 27th in the afternoon. We hope to have many fun activities for children and adults. If you wish to help with organizing this exciting event, please come to the parish hall for a Planning Meeting on Sunday, May 23 at 2pm.

Fr. Kuzma

April 11, 2010

Christ has risen! He has truly risen! During this octave of Easter I would like to share the joy of the Risen Lord with all our parishioners, your families and friends. Our celebrations of Holy Triduum and Easter are always very well attended and beautifully celebrated thanks to many committed volunteers. My thanks to all who have helped in our celebrations: Mass Coordinators, ushers, altar servers, lectors, ministers of communion, musicians, decorators, and to all of our parishioners for your involvement in this year’s celebrations of Christ’s death and resurrection. May the joy of Easter continue to change our lives and inspire others to love the Lord.

Fr. Kuzma

March 28, 2010

Today the Church celebrates Passion Sunday and begins a week that saved humanity called the Holy Week. During the next few days we will celebrate the most important events in the history of salvation, Christ’s passion, death and resurrection from the dead. Let us take the time and honor our God during those days in a special way, by participating in the Liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. May this time renew within us a deep faith and love for Christ who loved us this much!

Fr. Kuzma

February 21, 2010

Once again we begin the blessed season of Lent, a time of spiritual renewal and preparation for the events which redeemed mankind from sin. This time of 40 days gives us an opportunity to be strengthened in our relationship with God through prayer, penance, and almsgiving. We usually try to give something up for Lent in order to make room for God in our lives. Here are a few suggestions for this season of grace: try to come to Mass as often as you can, even daily if that is possible; make a good confession during this season; take the time to pray daily; read a good spiritual book; make a donation to help the poor; make an effort to overcome one vice in your life.
Above and beyond our regular weekday Masses and devotions, I wish to invite you to special evenings of Prayer for Priests. During this year of the priest we will be devoting Thursday evenings during Lent to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament for priests. Every Thursday we will begin at 7pm with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, a talk on prayer, and a guided Meditation. We will end with Benediction at 8:30pm. It is my hope that those evenings will give us an opportunity to support those who serve us and to strengthen our faith in a God who waits for us daily in the Blessed Sacrament.

Fr. Kuzma

February 7, 2010

I want to thank all our parishioners for your generous response to a number of social projects we have been promoting in the last month. We have been able to raise $15,293.22 for Haiti Earthquake Relief project. This money has been forwarded to the people of Haiti through Catholic organizations that have worked there for many years. Last weekend we heard the stories of many children who are in need of financial support. Deacon Ron Jenkins’ witness to the good work of Canadian-Catholic Sponsorship Organization called Chalice has produced 81 sponsorships and others still pending. Once again thank you for your generosity. I invite you to look forward to sharing a little more with those who have so much less than us during our Share Lent campaign which will begin in a few weeks. May the words of Jesus echo in our hearts: “Whatever you do to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you do it to me.”

Fr. Kuzma

January 17, 2010

Now that I’m back from my “pilgrimage” to Florida, I’m happy to roll up my sleeves and get back to work. To assist me in this will be a new member of our parish team, Mrs. Kathy Smith. I’m happy to announce that I have hired Mrs. Smith to serve as a full time Lay Parish Minister at St. Aloysius Parish. Kathy will begin her work on Jan 19th and will be given a chance to introduce herself to our community at all Masses next weekend. I want to take this opportunity and thank Betty Smythe, chair of our Parish Management Council, and Valerie Grzesiak, chair of our Liturgy Committee, for their assistance in the interviewing process. I pray that Kathy’s presence in our parish will be a blessing to both her and all of us.

Fr. Kuzma

January 10, 2010

With today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord we come to the end of Christmas Season. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have helped in Christmas celebrations: altar servers, lectors, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, Mass coordinators, musicians, ushers, decorating committee, and everyone involved. I also want to thank Fr. Carlos Martins for his help. As a priest it is a great joy for me to celebrate great feasts of the Church with you and share in the blessings that God has bestowed on us. I will now take a bit of a break and resume my “special ministry” in Florida where I will be for the next 5 days.

Fr. Kuzma