Fourth Sunday of Lent
Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, This Sunday at Mass we celebrate Laetare Sunday. The Latin word Laetare means ‘rejoice’ and its origin is rooted in the Introit (opening chant) for the Fourth Sunday of Lent – Laetare Jerusalem: “Rejoice, O Jerusalem and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.” Laetare Sunday marks the midpoint of Lent and the rose-coloured vestments that I will be wearing at Mass give us a glimpse at the light of the end of the 40-day tunnel of penance. Yes, Lent is a penitential season. It is a time that we allow the spot light to shine in on our hearts, looking at the nooks and crannies to see what needs to be pushed out, that is sin, in order to fully allow Christ to enter our hearts at Easter, with the new Easter light, the true light of Christ. This is what this Sunday is all about. Lent is not all about being somber. This Sunday we are called to rejoice in the reality of Easter – the promise of Easter – the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. At this midpoint I ask myself the question, “How has my season of Lent been going?” I ask you the same question. If you can say it has been a good season and that you have experienced God’s graces and blessings, that you feel closer to Christ, that you have experienced spiritual renewal, then thanks be to God! If you say it has been a little rough, that your Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving have fallen short of what you set out to embrace at the beginning of the journey, fear not. We are at the midpoint. Consider this a reboot, a new start. Rejoice in the fact that our God is a God of second chances and fresh starts. That is what the Sacrament of Reconciliation is all about. Make the most of these next three weeks by striving to realign your heart with the heart of Christ, returning to Christ through prayer, and take the time for your spiritual renewal. Remember that Christ fell three times carrying the cross. Now we too get back up, as people of hope. That is what we must remember at this moment. Last year on this Sunday I wrote "We may think how can I even utter the words rejoice at this moment in time with all that is taking place in Ukraine?" Now, over a year later, this war continues. Once again I write that it is our faith that we turn to for strength. We unite ourselves in prayer with our sisters and brothers of Ukraine. We place our trust in God, for it was Christ who conquered sin and death by rising from the dead. For that and so many more reasons, we remain people of hope. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend on the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia,
This weekend at our 5:00 p.m. mass we will begin to celebrate the scrutinies. The scrutinies are a series of rites for adults who wish to be baptized, called catechumens. They are celebrated in the third, fourth, and fifth weeks of the Lenten season. Here at St. Julia we have two catechumens who will be baptized at our Easter Vigil. Maggie Cimprich & Jennifer Koren We also pray for Susan Ogieriakhi, and her sons, Garry, Barry, Wayne, and Terry Eweka, who have joined our RCIA journey more recently, and will be baptized and received at a later date in the near future. Candidates, on the other hand, are those who are already Christians by baptism and are seeking to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. They usually have a basic understanding of the Christian faith and only need to learn the particulars of the Catholic Church. Here at St. Julia we have six candidates. Akua Yirenkyi, Andrew Kallmuk, William Gault, Kasandra Belanger, Tyler Adair & Justin Challis This time during Lent is considered a period of purification and enlightenment for the elect. There are prayers of exorcism which are intended to help purify the elect from sin and sinful desires. The overall prayers and laying on of hands are to help the elect be enlightened by the Word and grace of God. I ask you to keep in your prayers all of our candidates and catechumens, as they prepare, with great joy, for our Easter Vigil, to be one with us around the altar and to be welcomed into the faith we hold so dear to our hearts. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend on the Third Sunday of Lent. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, We will hear proclaimed in our Gospel from Matthew 17 this weekend Peter uttering the words to Jesus: "Lord, it is good for us to be here." Amen! How very true this is. How very good it is that we can once again gather, worship, and pray together. How very good it is that we can worship freely without any fear. How very good it is that we can help our sisters and brothers in need in our community through our St. Vincent de Paul donations, food bins, and homeless outreach. How very good it is that we have St. Peter Catholic Elementary School and Denis Morris Catholic High School in our community. How very good it is that we have our students joining us for mass from Brock University and Niagara College. How very good that we have a vibrant Catholic Women's League. How very good it is that we have our beautiful and gifted choir. How very good that we have active volunteers and ministers who share of their time and talents. How very good that we have a beautiful number of candidates and catechumens that will be welcomed into the church this Easter. How very good that we have been able to undertake project after project in our community to beautiful our grounds and this church, and ensure it will care for generations to come. How every good it is that we have a generous community that makes all this possible. How very good it is that we see our community growing in attendance at mass. How very good it is that we can grow in our faith together at mass and in faith studies (returning soon). How very good it is that we have the sacraments, where we can encounter Christ. How very good it is that this parish has been gifted with each one of you. The list goes on and on and on. How very good is to know that our Lord is present in all that we do here at St. Julia. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we look forward to the future as missionary people and disciples of Christ. At this moment, how very good it is that we are in the season of Lent. Through our lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and giving alms, may we too seek out those quiet moments to look within and also to give thanks. Amen for the gift of our faith, this season of purification, and for this community. Indeed Lord, it is good for us to be here. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend on the Second Sunday of Lent. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, Lent is a great season of grace, a time for us to get back to spiritual basics, a time for us to accompany Jesus into the desert, to face temptation with him, and learn how to respond to it. Jesus felt temptation. On the desert floor, the devil tempts Jesus (hungry after 40 days fasting) to turn stones into bread, to make the satisfaction of sensual desire the highest good of life. Many fall into the sensual temptation for food, drink, drugs, sex, etc., or the money to purchase them. During Lent we take a good long hard look at this tendency. If sensual pleasure is my greatest desire then I am in sad spiritual shape. Like kids who want everything. If we always give in, we never open ourselves to higher goods, like friendship, knowledge, and searching for God. Jesus response: man does not live by bread alone. We need bread, but that isn’t all there is. The challenge and opportunity for us this Lent is to move higher, and to not get stuck on the desert floor. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and know of my prayers for a blessed and grace-filled season of Lent. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia,
This weekend in our Gospel from Matthew 5:38-48 we will hear some of the most difficult teachings of Jesus: Love your enemies. This is a tough one. Sometimes we may ignore, avoid, or downplay the teachings of Jesus. Too difficult? We move on. Yet so many times the difficult teachings have the power to change our lives. Correction - transform our lives. That is what I want for each and every one of us - lives that are transformed, all through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus once again speaks the words we need to hear. In a few short days we will begin the season the Lent, a time of transformation. May we dig our teeth into the difficult teachings of Jesus. Remember, with God all things are possible. I had a very pleasant time away, and I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend for the source and summit of our faith, the Mass. May God bless each of you and those that you love. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, When I get up in the morning I pray for a H.P.P.P. day. Holy. Pleasant. Productive. Peaceful. First I pray for a Holy Day. We are all called to holiness, and that is my prayer for myself and all those entrusted to my care. That is each one of you. I pray that my words, deeds, and actions are holy and are reflective of the live I want to live. Think of Jesus right there beside you. Are the words that I speak appropriate for Jesus to hear? Do they build others up? Are my actions appropriate? Is what I am watching or streaming appropriate and helping me in living a holy life? Sometimes I succeed, other times I can do better. Next I pray for a Pleasant day. A sense of happy satisfaction or enjoyment. To be able to say at the end of the day "that was a pleasant day" is a gift from God. Next is Productive. It is said that people who makes their bed in the morning are more productive. Google it. Bed-makers were more than twice as likely to be satisfied with their jobs and almost 20 percent more likely to prioritize responsibilities over their desires and to be more productive in their free time. Even more importantly, people who make the bed get more sleep (over 2.5 hours more per week, on average). I feel better about myself when I've had a productive day. I will admit, some time on the couch is nice too. Last but not least is Peaceful. Peace is a gift and not to be taken for granted. It is what I want in my life and in my day, and it is what I want for everyone who walks out of the doors St. Julia. Praying for a holy, pleasant, productive, and peaceful day has the power to transform your life. Who can make all this possible? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each day is a gift. May your days be holy, pleasant, productive, and peaceful, and may God bless you. Fr. Greg Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, Our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah 58:7-10 profoundly speaks of the outreach we have undertaken here at St. Julia to the homeless in our community. So many of you answered the call for assistance by reading this newsletter and moving into action by bringing in the things most needed. - sleeping bags - socks - mittens and gloves - jackets - prepackaged cutlery The picture below says it all. The donations on these tables were picked up this past Tuesday morning. They were sorted over the course of the day by Matthew 25 Ministries, and hand delivered to those living under the Burgoyne Bridge that evening, with the last distrubution made at 11:30 p.m. that night. These two tables were able to assist 61 people with care packages consisting of warm clothes, socks, underwear, gloves, and utensils. 25 sleeping bags were distributed. I was told when they can assist 25 people it is good. This was a big deal. Thank you. By Wednesday morning the table was starting to fill in once again. Thank you. Having announced our outreach this past weekend at all of our masses, we are prayerfully ready to make another call to be able to provide additional assistance. Thank you. An overflowing bin of food was picked up by the St Patricks' St. Vincent de Paul and will be used in their Food distributions on Fridays. Thank you. An overflowing basket of "unmentionables" again revealed your generous response to a need, that was again confirmed to me this week of the shortage of men's and women's underwear for distribution to those in need. Thank you. Calls come in on a regular basis for assistance from our St. Vincent de Paul, with vouchers hand delivered by our volunteers. Your donations in the boxes when you exit mass make this possible. Thank you. Our outreach to the homeless has just begun here at St. Julia. Permanent bins will be put in place for donations, similar to our food bin. For now, the tables will be a visual reminder for all of us of the outpouring of support and the great need in our community, for everything donated will get into the hands of someone in our community. Isaiah wrote in late 600 B.C. - early 700 B.C. As the Living Word of God, this message, some 2700 years later, is just as real today as it was then. It is a call to action for us. Thank you for responding to that call with a generous heart as we care for our sisters and brothers in need. May God bless you and those that you love, Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, This weekend our scripture readings will send us a message loud and clear: "Seek the Lord." We must give our whole being to God. We must follow Jesus with all our strength. This also means reaching out to our poor and marginalized sisters and brothers. One of the takeaways from our first Town Hall Meeting held on November 14th was the desire for greater outreach to the poor in our community. Some ideas were shared, and I will admit that I struggled to bite my teeth into this one and to wrap my mind around what was proposed. Admittedly, gearing up for the Advent and Christmas season and the preparations and celebrations in our parish was my focus. You will see below that I have set our next Town Hall meeting date, and in the back of my mind, I was saddened to think that no action has taken place with respect to this proposal. I will also admit that I need greater assistance to implement the ideas presented. Come Holy Spirit. God has put remarkable people in my path here at St. Julia these past 3 plus years to get so many of our projects and initiatives done or up and running. This past Tuesday, I had a funeral director come in to see me to update their records on the celebration of funerals here at St. Julia and more. I then asked this gentlemen about his family, and our conversation took a remarkable turn. This man has no family. His parents are deceased. No siblings. No one. He is connected to Southridge and New Hope Churches. Some years ago, he began to deliver food to the homeless in St. Catharines. That evolved to renting a storage unit for clothing to be distributed. The storage unit is now empty because the need is so great in our community. He and his now team deliverd some 800 meals on New Year's Day, ending at 11:30 p.m., to shelters and those on the streets and in encampments. Then he told me about the encampment behind Cats Caboose. Some 60 people live in there. I was taken back by all this. We talked about the downtown, and other locations throughout the city. In his outreach, he said there are probably around 150 people sleeping outside on any given night. He never gives cash. Nor does he himself ever take cash for his ministry. So, here is where we can help in his outreach efforts. Here is what is needed for men and women for immediate distribution: - sleeping bags - socks - mittens and gloves - jackets - prepackaged cutlery I invite you to bring these items to our church and continue to do so. He will pick them up / we will deliver to him. He will get these items to those in need as he and his team are out several times a week. He calls himself and his team "Matthew 25 Ministries." This is just the start of this conversation, and assistance and outreach to the poor, quite litterally right in our backyard. As I learned firsthand, homelessness, and unfortunately the other problems that led to this, is a major problem in our community. As "a caring community" this is our opportunity to yet again put our faith into action. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend. We welcome a number of our grade 6/7 students from St. Peter Catholic Elementary School to our 9:00 a.m. mass who will lead us in our ministries. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, On September 30, 2019, Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, motu proprio “Aperuit Illis”, established that “the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the Word of God.” The title of the document, “Aperuit illis”, is equally important. They are its opening words, taken from St Luke’s Gospel, where the Evangelist describes how the Risen Jesus appeared to His disciples, and how “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures”. Pope Francis writes “that the life of our people be constantly marked by this decisive relationship with the living word that the Lord never tires of speaking to his Bride” (Aperuit Illis, 2). The Bible is not meant for a privileged few, continues Pope Francis. It belongs “to those called to hear its message and to recognize themselves in its words”. The Bible cannot be monopolized or restricted to select groups either, he writes, because it is “the book of the Lord’s people, who, in listening to it, move from dispersion and division towards unity”. Pope Francis invites us never to take God’s Word for granted, “but instead to let ourselves be nourished by it, in order to acknowledge and live fully our relationship with Him and with our brothers and sisters”. The Letter closes with a reference to Our Lady, who accompanies us "on the journey of welcoming the Word of God", teaching us the joy of those who listen to that Word – and keep it. This weekend I will have the honour of extending a blessing to our Ministers of the Word with the blessing found below. We thank these women and men from our parish, of all ages, for proclaiming the Word of God and making it alive for our community. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, We are creatures of habit, and sometimes we can go into autopilot mode. This is a danger for a priest as well. We hear proclaimed these words at the mass before we receive communion: "Behold the Lamb of God. Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb." Before we perhaps go into autopilot mode with our response this weekend at mass, let's stop and pause for a brief moment in our hearts. Let's say our response as if it were the first - and last time - that we would say it. "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." This may just have the power to transform our hearts, to realize that we are about to receive the real presence of Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity. The power to heal, restore, reignite, and refresh our very being. Something only the Lamb of God can do. This is our faith. This is what we believe. May God bless each of you and those that you love, Fr. Greg |
AuthorFrom Our Pastor Archives
July 2024
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