My Life and Times

 Wow I flew through April and now into May. My hectic workload has taken its toll and I am tired and worn out. I went as far as to ask my boss if I should leave because I just can’t do it anymore. 50-60 hours week after week now for about 6 weeks steady.. In the last month I have almost put in a month and a half of time. Of course being stubborn I still lived under the guise of you can only do the work when you have it!

 Friday that was to change as I was called into the bossman’s office. I was told that even though I will stay on service and installation work or system upgrades may be priced by me but in a manner where we have sub contractors or someone else from our office doing it. The boss told me I can’t be out of the office constantly and be able to perform my duties there as well. He also wants me due to the growth in our workload to be in charge of all procurement but especially responsible for the projects we have coming up. I will have to work with engineering on the projects and see the projects through to the day they leave. By that he means getting parts and organizing up the traffic patterns in the shop for builds etc.

 All of this came as a relief as I was starting to wonder if I was totally nuts or nut and boy some days I felt all of my 49 years! With the service contracts out there that we have it will still be a bit of a juggle but I can make my schedule more flexible and I will be able to slow down the pace a bit at least back to an acceptable pace. I guess the good lord did answer my prayers and came through with a little help that I requested!!!

 Meanwhile in our parish last Sunday at mass in the bulletin it had a little blurb about anybody willing to help to talk to Father B. So I finally summoned up enough courage and went to see Father B. He was in a jovial mood and said he knows he can count on myself and my wife. One of the parishioners who kind of helps to oversee the running of the church said I could help with the collections and then Father B had a brain storm. Last Christmas someone I guess was feeling guilty and donated a large screen TV to the parish. Father B wanted it set up so Sunday Mass would be up on the screen and the parishioners can follow along if they so choose. Apparently this is a big thing in many churches. In fact the cathedral we attend the Anniversary Mass in also had the big screens through out. Well anyways Father B wants me to run the screen during mass as he said he needs someone who knows where they are in the mass to be able to have the correct page up on the screen. I of course said it should be one of my kids doing this as they are more in tune with this stuff. I think though father B might have been worried that a teen ager might go to facebook or MSN messenger during mass. Well anyways I will go next week for training and then probably start doing this. Of course collections helping as an usher or anything else was what i really was looking for but I guess this was the choice so I will do it.

 So there you ahve another week gone by some good some bad I guess life of an average person. Take care and God Bless!

So the big visit occurred and went off with out a noticeable hitch. The Bishop came saw and left. Father B thanked all involved and all of the parish who attended the big Mass with the Hungarian Bishop.

 It really was quite a day. It was for the first time in my memory that there was standing room only in the church. Yes even those who never come showed up to be amongst the numbers. I told my wife I wouldn’t have let them in! Be there on a regular basis don’t just show up on a special occasion!

 The Bishop though was impressed and gave an inspired homily about the Hungarians abroad and how big the church has been in their lives and how for many the Hungarian churches abroad were their first place of refuge and first place to seek help in starting a new life in a new country. This is all true and he also mentioned how the church had through the communist years held the family together and gave always a sense of hope for the people. He also mentioned that when he met Pope Benedict XVI how the pope was impressed with the Bishops role and that how many Hungarians and Hungarian churches there are outside of Hungary. The Pope was to have said that this truly was something to behold how a nation of people even abroad can stay together like this.

 Father B I have to admit got the politics out of the way when he had 2 of the older kids (actually very young adults) to read during mass. I smiled and thought this was good this way none can argue that how this person could read when the Bishop was here etc.

 Yes we all sang and we were all louder and somehow in tune with the hymns. We also sang the Hungarian National anthem at the end and truth be told there was not a dry eye in the church. Even though I was born here in Canada I have always been very proud of my Hungarian heritage and this day reinforced that in me. A simple group of people who left with nothing to come elsewhere for freedom and start new. Also all the support they sent back to their families through all those years but never ever forgot their roots. Never forgot their love for their homeland and for those in attendance their church.

 So now back to the regular flow at mass. This past Sunday maybe 40 of us. I told m wife if I was Father B I would have introduced the ‘regualrs’ to the Bishop and sat them up front but alas Father B does not like and tries to avoid confrontation.

 OPff to work and until next time take care!

Well as I continue on my suicidal overtime rate with work, I finally find time to do a very brief update. First off I think work has consumed me to the point where I am just a zombie, wake up work go to bed day after-day. Reward is none some overtime but no real appreciation about the efforts from the boss. Of course we always hear about him working 5 minutes-longer than his usual 7 1/2 hours.

 So as I mentioned before the Bishop is coming to ur church this Sunday. This is the Bishop who represents the Hungarian church outside of the borders of Hungary. He has been in North America now for a few weeks going to the various Hungarian parishes in new York, Chicago, New Jersey and in Canada he has been to Toronto, Montreal, Courtland and on Sunday at our parish in Hamilton.

 Father B is wound up hoping he gets his transfer out but he did ask us to be on our best behaviour and for the choir to sing a little quicker. As he put it we don’t want the bishop to think we are asleep as the choir has a tendency to sing slow. This I can confirm and so can the organ player as you hear the organ go off key as he has to slow down to the singer’s pace.

 Also we will have only one mass on Sunday. The regular 9:30am will be cancelled and we will only have the 11:00am. As I have said before the congregation is small that attend either of the masses so the bet is on one mass will make us look like more. Somehow though I do like the smaller amounts of people as to me it makes it seem like I can get a little more personal attention during my prayers etc. There is no rush to get going and everybody gets to know everybody.

 Father B well as mentioned he is worried about all of us and I think he will not like the non regulars showing up and acting as regulars. I know he welcomes them but he also has on numerous occasions said clearly you can’t worship part time! Mass must be attended on a weekly basis.

 So we will see how the bishop likes us. Father B I think gets his review and might get moved which is what he is hoping for. He has been here 7 years now and I think he is fed up with the parish politics from a few people. For the most part it really only is a couple of people who act like they own the place but it is ironic they are some of the part timers. They have criticized how mass is done and said and have bee critical of the homilies also. I too at the strait was not keen on Father B’s homilies but gained appreciation for them as my knowledge of Hungarian grew and my understanding grew he is trying to teach what the gospel is saying. He does not use everyday examples although he does mix them in. he uses the bible to build on the gospel for the homilies and lately I have really started to get into his teachings.

 Selfishly I hope Father B stays as I really like him. But maybe he does deserve a hot elsewhere.

 Well we will see. Off to polish my shoes and work also!!! Take care!

Yes it has been quite I while since I last posted.Hopefully things will get back to normal now. Work has been overwhelming and based on the overtime I have put in I have almost worked 5 weeks in the last 4. This week not only do we have our regular daily grind but we will be moving our offices and manufacturing facility to a new place. Of course it is uncoordinated and poorly planned but I have become used to the idiocy at my workplace and I am not surprised at the state of affairs there. I do my job and hope to move forward but that is getting harder by the day so I really have to weigh my future options, I guess what is holding me back is my age is getting up there and not many people want to hire a 49(tomorrow) year old and bother training him etc. It is funny just to see how much experience dictates into things at work as well, but as said I am just a spare part there so we will see what happens once we settle into the new place. I know what ever does happen it is all part of God’s plan for me.

 Easter was beautiful and my wife and I went to all the services. Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Saturday Vigil and well I did not go Easter Sunday as I was under the weather so to speak.Saturday I was asked to help by carrying a candle in the procession in the church and I was very happy to have been asked. My wife read a lot through the 4 days as we were always there and she seems to have become the relief pitcher of readers and  Father B really likes the way she reads ad he calls on her.

 I even had confession for the first time in the new church and although I was apprehensive as I had never done this in Hungarian, Father B was very good with me and guided me through it.

 We are starting to see some of the politics at this parish that we knew from before was there and I really feel for Father B. He has people trying to tell how mass should be done etc. On Good Friday we arrived and were surprised that there were people there praying the Stations of the Cross so we joined in. At 3:00pm Father B came out and started mass. Afterwards he did encourage everyone to come and do the Stations but reminded them to come earlier as the Good Friday mass has to start at 3:00pm. He seems to like to be traditional and wants to keep that way as there are a lot of seniors in our parish, but I like it that way also. Father B is also upset with younger parishioners who only seem to come at the main holiday masses but he does not argue only quietly suggests that they come more often to help make the parish community more vibrant etc. Oh well I guess every parish has it’s politics so I am not surprised. We do not try to get a position etc. We go and we help when asked and expect nothing in return no standing anything just the knowing of the good we have done. I know Father B appreciates us and that is enough reward for us.

 My wife and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this summer and the Diocese of Hamilton had a special mass for 25th, 40th, 50th and above wedding anniversary. It was at the main cathedral where I have never been. I must say it was a stunning place and I will put pictures of the cathedral up in the near future. The Mass was done by the Bishop and-we renewed our vows and we met the bishop afterwards and received a special certificate for it. The bishop is a very nice man and I felt sorry for him as he stood at the front of the church meeting all of us. There were 430 couples there. I guess as I told my wife that this is quite the accomplishment for both of us and we were both happy that we went to this mass. It was of course Father B who pointed us in this direction.

 Now back to the regular grind but we will be having a special visitor in 2 weeks as the Hungarian Bishop who oversees Hungarian churches outside of Hungary will be performing Mass on April 20th. The Bishop is on a tour of North America with stops in new Jersey, New York, Toronto, Montreal, London, Buffalo and of course Hamilton. I can imagine that our little church will be packed for this and everyone behaving.

 Oh well we shall see. Again hopefully I can get back to my couple of posts per week and hopefully work won’t consume me. Take care and God Bless!

Well last week was Palm Sunday and I was fortunate enough to attend 2 masses last weekend. Both I can safely say were totally different.

 The first was in my  parish church which you may or may not know I stopped attending. As mentioned before there were a few things that did not sit well with me and I did not feel I was in the right place. Anyways my daughters friend was in the passion play. My daughter informed me that we have to go to mass because of this. So of course I asked my daughter why is the passion play during mass? Was she sure? Then my daughter told me some of the mass was being dropped to allow for the passion play. So we went of course I sat there annoyed at Palm-Sunday mass people in torn jeans, teens in there G-Unit hoodies and sweats etc.Mind you some parents were no better dressed. To me it still is a basic level of respect for whaer you are and respcet of course for our lord. Then the other impressive thing for me half the congregation showing up 15 minutes into mass.

 The priest quickly through the start of mass to get to the passion play. I will say the play was mixed and was a part musical. I will say what I told my daughter, I appreciate the efforts these teens put into this and I am very pleased to see that they are into this important aspect of the church but this should not be a part of mass. Last year’s passion play was at a separate time. Truthfully last year’s passion play well it left me speechless it was that good. This year was very good but could not come close and with me steamed about mass being basically sped up and chopped for the passion play did not sit well with me. But I can’t criticize the kids as they did great!

 I also attended the mass at our Hungarian parish and it was totally different. There was no passion play, no drums, no hoodies and no one running in late or for that matter cell phones going of for text messages. No it was a religious ceremony. The palms being blessed at the start of mass and brought through the church. My wife and some other ladies doing the readings along with Father B and they also portrayed the passion. It was nice simple but with a lot of meaning.

 Last night we were there for the Holy Thursday mass. For me it was again totally different compared to the Holy Thursday Mass I attended last year at my parish. There was a lot of devotion here and at the end the altar was cleared and candles blown out and put away and the lights were turned down and we left the mass in total silence.

 I find also that this year the mass and the whole Lenten and Easter seasons are starting to make more sense to me and somehow it appears that this wooden block I use for a head has started to absorb. I really yesterday for the first time and maybe the last few masses have begun to understand what our lord Jesus did for us and the suffering he went through for us. Truly like EWTN says this is the week that changed the world.

 Today is Good Friday and we will be going to the mass today at 3:00pm. Take care and God Bless!

So why do we wonder what is wrong in the world today? One I have found and really start to question more and more is the media. It is not unusual for them to take a story and twist and turn and “interpret” the reality of the story to satisfy their own needs in the ratings war.

 Right now the controversy continues on over the new 7 sins which have come out from the Vatican.Again when I first read most of the articles from the-secular reporting agencies and even heard it through the radio and or TV it was made out to be that the original 7 sins were replaced. I had to go to Catholic News Agency  to read the article properly. These do not replace the original 7 deadly sins. In fact here is an excerpt from an article of exactly hat it is and how it is to be interpreted;

Media is wrong about 7 social sins, says cardinal

Guadalajara, Mar 13, 2008 / 11:35 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Guadalajara, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, responded to inaccurate information in the media about the supposed “new sins” outlined by the Vatican this week and said, “The sins are the same, what has changed is the how they are applied.”

“The commandment is the same: thou shalt not kill,” the cardinal said, “and now there are many ways to kill if we apply this to the field of bioethics and scientific experiments,” in which human embryos are often destroyed.

Cardinal Sandoval stressed that the social sins are not an impediment to reaching heaven, but he noted that “going to heaven is not easy, the road is not downhill.  The Lord said narrow is the door and few are those who find it.”

He also stated that excessive wealth “goes against social justice; the goods of the earth are for all,” and he explained that the Church’s “social doctrine teaches that wealth should redistributed between business owners and workers.”

The cardinals comments came in response to media coverage of a interview given to L’Osservatore Romano by Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, in which he explained that today there are social sins such as genetic manipulation, that undermine respect for life, drug use and social inequality.

The media incorrectly interpreted this application to the social sphere as an update of the Church’s seven deadly sins.
 Truthfully I rarely watch the news anymore as the CNN’s of the world turn my stomach. If it isn’t sensationalised then sometimes I wonder if they don’t just make it up for the sake of it. May times the real story is often overlooked so the average audience can be shocked into watching.

 I know here in Toronto there have been a lot of gun crimes involving youth. Of course the cry has been to ban guns and close the borders etc. But the big picture being missed is the social economic conditions many of those kids live in. Single parent homes usually fatherless and usual poor. Nothing is ever mentioned at societies failure to help or at least address these issues or how you never see a politician in their campaigning and promising to help.

 In the US look at Hilary and Obama, the last little while it has become disgusting how they have carried on with each other and how the real issues of the US economic downturn and loss of thousands upon thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost has not been really touched on.  Yes we live in a world full of frenzy to be shocked into the untruth to watch so some advertiser can make money plugging a product. Really really sick society.

So as I continue my hectic and at times idiotic week for work which appears to be consuming me although I have wrestled and started to get in a few kicks against the daily regiment of bringing work home I will give you a quick update on my past happenings of the past week.

 Friday I attended the stations of the cross and even though I think I at my latter middle half age was probably the youngest person there found it to be moving and quite emotional as we traced the last steps of Jesus. The priest did a great job and the prayers by everyone at each station was truly amazing and you could really feel the spirituality in the people.

 Sunday my wife did the readings and then as I had earlier mentioned that we had a guest priest he delivered a wonderful homily about the Gospel. He basically said how our lord showed how human he really was with his request for water and that we all were a lot like the Samaritan women looking for the easy way out. This was of course in reference to the part where Jesus tells her that if she drinks from the water he gives she will never thirst, how we assume that going to church on Sunday amounts to a quick sip and with this we are fulfilled and not thirsty. This the priest says is the easy way the way we think where we don’t have to go up to the well and get more water. The priest went onto say that we have to always thirst for the water provided by the Lord and not just drink on Sunday but everyday. He suggested we try to attend some more week day masses and if not then read the scriptures. He suggested start to finish but he said if time is an issue which should never be when dealing with our Lord we should open up the bible at any point and read for 5- 10 minutes every day. He said taking a sip of the Lord’s water does not quench the thirst of one and we should not be satisfied with just a sip!

 This was also the Father’s last Mass here as our regular Father B will be back this week. I went over after mass and thanked him for his work and coming to help out our small church in Canada and also told him that I might drop by his parish in Hungary this simmer. Yes it looks like we are going to vacation there this year and appernetly his parish is not far away from where we are staying.

 Last night I went to see my daughter’s high school musical Jesus Christ Superstar. It was very well done and I really loved the whole production. As I get more and deeper (albeit slowly) back into the church some of these plays or movies with Jesus and his crucifixion really make me emotional thinking of the suffering he endured for us and to forgive our sins.

 This weekend is the Lenten retreat and I am going but a bit apprehensively. As mentioned I am still a bit weak in my Hungarian reading but have been told to relax as help is always available so I need not worry. This will be the first time I have ever participated in anything like this and I am looking forward to it.

Until next week take care and God Bless!

So this past weekend we know our regular parish priest Father B was going to be away on retreat and then a small vacation. So for the upcoming weekends we were told there would be another priest from Hungary who is here on visit would do the Mass on the weekends and weekdays.

 WOW! That is all I can say. Father B is great don’t get me wrong. he has been genuinely warm and pleased to welcome us and make us comfortable into the parish. But this priest from Hungary put so much life into the mass and his homily. Father B generally seems to have a prepared homily every Sunday and needless to say it does have good points but it is read to us and comes as a directive and at times it does get a bit long and well forgive me for this but sometimes boring.

 The visiting priest straight from the heart and mixed in with comparisons to everyday life we can relate to. Kind of like homily for dummies and he kept referring to not only the gospel but the first 2 readings as well and combining them and explaining them on a simple form but with a lot of himself put forth in the presentation and lot of simple life as we live it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it really energized me. I have always been an advocate and have always enjoyed homilies delivered from the heart and has examples of today’s world and our own life experiences mixed in. maybe it appeals to my simple mind.

 It was funny though as we had a visitor running Mass it seemed to me that the congregation was louder than usual kind of like stepping up for Father B and showing outsiders how much we are proud of our little parish.

 Friday I am off for The Stations of the Cross with the visitor priest and Sunday he has another mass to perform and I am looking forward to both events. Take care!

So as I continue down this interesting path the Lord has provided me, I have come across a site in Hungary with some tips for Lent. Now from what I have seen and heard lately in-regards to Lent it is not so much about what we give up for Lent but what we do to strengthen ourselves spiritually and how we help those around us. As my Hungarian ability grows I have been able to explore and read more from Hungarian religious sites. I guess as we get older we realize more and more the mistakes and things we missed in our lives. Now I certainly wish I would have listened to my mom and learned more Hungarian as a youngster. But it is never too late.

 Anyhow on to some of the suggestions I picked up from the Hungarian website,

Read the Sunday readings and Gospel ahead of Sunday Mass, learn and go over it before Mass to have a better understanding of the words and meanings.

 Since we have to give something up for Lent why not give up maybe running out for lunch a few times a week or the money you would spend at fast food outlets and put it together and after the Lenten period donate it to the poor. I think we all would be quite surprised as to the amount we would come up with.

At home or at work when you need some quiet time or have time to spare instead of going to Facebook, My Space etc. why not go to a religious site to read some spiritually works to enhance your spiritual life.

For those of us who don’t, can’t or won’t why not try to make a weekday mass before work or after work.

Read the Gospel by Mark. This is the shortest of the gospels.

 So here are some of the suggestions which I found and certainly they will help strengthen us spiritually. The other one our Parish priest put before us was that Friday try to fast and no meat on Fridays. This one I am doing for sure but some of the others I will do also.

 So there as I learn a little more I can provided interesting items from another land another perspective. Take care and God Bless!

So once again I have found another article about faith being punished for the good of public preception (at least that is the way I see it). Our down hill slide not only continues as a people but at times gets accelerated by the people in power. Yes they need those few extra votes that they might win from these kind of moves.

 I had heard the article on the radio in passing but as usual the news outlets did not want to go there and press the issue. They certainly saw that this would not give them the ratings that they crave. But this morning at Canadian Catholic Blog I found this article about the Lord’s pray being abolished before the start of the provincial leagislative sessions. Again an attack on what is correct to appease a few. Yes I too remember the days of singing the national anthem and saying the Lord’s prayer before school would start. Funny we never saw colour or race back then we were always one, brother and sister well just kids having fun. To me it is ironic that the secular world in search for political correctness has led to the sepration and illumination of colour, creed, race and even gender. Highlighting our differences. I just shake my head.

 So enough of my meaningless talk here is the article,

Any talk about replacing the Lord’s Prayer at Queen’s Park will be a distraction from other provincial government business, says Niagara-area MPP Tim Hudak.

“We let each member express their own views … It’s not cut in stone it has to be the Lord’s Prayer.”