Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, Today, a Light has shone. We no longer are to walk in darkness. The name of this day “Epiphany” comes from the Greek word “epiphainō” which literally means “to shine upon”. God wants all the nations of the world to know who Jesus is, why He came, and what His coming means for us today. Who were they? Kings, Magi, Star-gazers, Wise Men, Astrologers… They have been called all these names. Regardless, they represent the fact that Jesus came as King of All Nations, King of the Whole World, King of the Entire Universe, King of All Creation: “Christ the King.". The Kings bring us with them to the manger. Ponder that for a moment. The Kings bring each and every one of us with me. So, what does this all mean? God wants all people to be saved and no one to be lost. No one is excluded. Ultimately, this is the meaning of today’s celebration. May the Light of Christ shine ever brighter in 2023 one each of you and those that you love, on our diocese, and in our world. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, Last weekend, we celebrated Christmas on December 25th. This is the day we thank God for one of the most humble, loving and generous gifts in our human history: God became one of us. God took on the human condition. He entered our experience and changed us forever. We call this “The Mystery of the Incarnation” and it’s so important to us that we bow every time we mention it in the creed. By becoming human, Jesus took every human experience that is not sin and made it holy. Our laughter, our pain, our tears…every human experience from the most mundane to the greatest, God has made a part of Him forever. That’s love and that love is ours forever. In the Feast of the Holy Family that we celebrate today, Friday, we remember with joy that the first experience our God chose to have on earth is the experience of being part of a family. If we look at the creation account, we see that God, who is a community of persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), immediately created a community of persons when he made us. He made a man and a woman as the first expression of Himself on earth. For us then, family is everything. Family matters to us, not just in the fact of its existence, but in the duty of our little human families to imitate the community of love that is our origin: God. Pray together, eat together, seize every moment you can to love, serve and be with the family that Jesus has given you. So many wonderful families join us during this Holy Season and throughout the year, and that is a blessing for our parish. This weekend, we celebrate Mary, the Mother of God, and it brings the octave of Christmas to its spiritual completion. There is significance in celebrating Mary during the heart of the Christmas season. Pope Paul VI, in his apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus (1974), called the Solemnity of Mary “a fitting occasion for renewing adoration of the newborn Prince of Peace, for listening once more to the glad tidings of the angels (Luke 2:14), and for imploring from God, through the Queen of Peace, the supreme gift of peace.” I pray that God touches your heart and soul this Holy Season and fills you with His love and peace. I pray that you find here at St. Julia a place where you feel welcome to join us every week you can as we strive to know and live God’s love and peace. If you haven’t joined our Parish Family and wish to, simply click here. Thank you for letting me be your priest. You are the gift God has given me and I am filled with gratitude and joy. May God bless each of you and those that you love in 2023. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, I am blessed to receive many beautiful Christmas cards every year, and this year is no exception. One in particular stands out. It reads: The GREATEST GIFT to the world was given this day. Receive Him through FAITH, rejoice in HOPE, experience the PEACE of His LOVE this Christmas season and always. What a gift our Saviour Jesus Christ is. This gift can be found in no store. This gift is priceless. It is the most precious of all gifts in the world. This gift is one for all humankind. God made flesh. Emmanuel. The name given to Christ. This is the gift that we celebrate every Christmas. Yet, for us, Christmas is more than just one day. Christmas for so many is just that, and it is not the CHRISTmas we hold dear to our hearts. Our faith, and the gift of our faith, allows us to receive and encounter the gift of Christ in the sacraments and in the most beautiful of all ways, the gift of the Eucharist, everyday of the year. Keep Christmas with you, all through the year from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is the gift I am thinking of, and humming as I write this. It is with love in my heart that I welcome you and yours to our Christmas celebrations this year at our parish of St. Julia. I pray that the peace of the season dwells in your heart, for it is the gift of peace that I pray you receive and take with you, and bring into your homes, schools, places of work, and into our community and world, when we gather and worship together. Another gift, all through the year. May God bless each of you and those that you love this Christmas season and always, Fr. Greg P.S. Christmas is more than just one day. Liturgically speaking, it is a season, it is an octave . Remember that, and safety always first. Should weather be an issue this weekend, join me during any of the days in the octave of Christmas. I will be there to welcome you as we celebrate the birth of Christ together. Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, The Fourth Sunday of Advent has arrived. We have journeyed together throughout this season of preparation for the coming of Christ this Christmas. In many ways it is a journey and a calling home. Advent is a joyful celebration of the condition we find ourselves in as Christians. It announces that God is always moving towards us. God is at work in the world and in our lives, ever creative and ever renewing. God continues to create and to reveal his love for each of us. The good news is that we are pilgrims on the move and are going home to God's house. The only worthwhile baggage to carry on that journey is good works and acts of loving service performed for Christ. As we light the fourth candle on our Advent wreath, we are reminded of the great love that God has for each and everyone of us. Never forget this. May we reflect this same love in our words, deeds, and actions, from the greatest to the least. Remember, what seems like something small or insignificant to us just might mean the world to someone else. The greatest preparation we just might make this upcoming week might be the one no one on earth will ever see. O come, O come, Emmanuel. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend as we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Advent together. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, As we continue to journey through this season of Advent together as a parish family, we are drawing close to celebrating the birth of our Saviour. The Lord, our Lord, is very close to us. Our passages from Scripture remind us of this, and it is the recurring theme in the season of Advent. The fact that our Lord is near to us, I pray, should bring comfort to all believers. Our Saviour took on our human flesh, to be one with us and to walk with us. He showed us how to live and how to love, both our God and our neighbour. He showed us how to be people of hope, peace, joy, and love. As we enter now the Third Week of Advent, may we continue to embrace this season of preparation and the preparing of our hearts. Consider joining us for our Advent Reconciliation Service Wednesday evening, weekday morning Mass, all either in person or via our YouTube channel. Make the most of this time, and be the light of Jesus to someone this day. O come, O come, Emmanuel. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend as we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent together. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, This weekend we will light the second candle on our Advent wreath, in our spiritual home and own private homes. In three weeks time we will celebrate Christmas and the coming of the Son of God among us as our prophet, our priest, and our king. To really know who Jesus is, we must recall the faith of the people who looked out for him. We must look to the writings of the Old Testament to see what they say about the promise of God to visit his people - and during these coming weeks we will read and break open the Word of God from the prophets. We will recall those who prepared the way for his coming - and we will recall the work of John the Baptist. We will reflect on how the Christ child comes to birth in our world through our faith and discipleship, and we will remember Mary whose faith and acceptance of the invitation of God inaugurated the whole Christian era. Let us find those precious moments, to stop and pause, and in silence note that this moment is an important turning point in our year and in our lives 2022 years later. O come, O come, Emmanuel. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend as we celebrate the Second Sunday of Advent together. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, This weekend we begin a new liturgical year with the Season of Advent. With each passing day from now until Christmas, we will lose about 20 minutes more of daylight. There is something about darkness. We slow down, and in the case of reflecting upon the Season of Advent, we prepare. The message we will be hearing throughout the season of Advent is exactly that. Preparing – preparing our hearts, for our God is sending a Saviour, Emmanuel, which means God-with-us. This preparing involves prayer and our active participation in the liturgy and sacraments of the Church, and our willingness to serve and to be of service to one another. Advent draws us in and invites us to do all this, with the help of Holy Spirit, to meet our God, who comes to us in the form of a baby. As we begin this Advent journey as a parish family, may we ponder the birth of our Saviour some 2000 years ago as we unite our prayers together to prepare for the coming of Christ into our hearts this Christmas. O come, O come, Emmanuel. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend as we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent together. Fr. Greg Feast of Christ the King Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, Here we are, the last Sunday of Ordinary Time. This weekend we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. The Feast of Christ the King was given papal recognition by Pius XI in 1925 with the calendar celebration set as the last Sunday in October. In 1960 when the liturgical calendar was revised, the Feast was moved to the last Sunday of the Year before Advent. I pose a simple yet profound question for all of us. Is Jesus the King of your life? This is the question that we are to ponder this Sunday. Bishop Barron sees the Liturgical Year as kind of a grand procession, at the end of which comes the most important person, Jesus Christ, the Lord, the King of the Universe. The Latin word for “Lord” is “Dominus”. It is a good word because it invites us to ask ourselves whether or not Jesus is the dominant influence in our lives. If we say anything other than Christ is the King, then we need to revisit what Christianity really means. If we only think of Jesus as a good, kind person, that is not enough. If we let him into only one or two rooms of our house, we are playing games. This is not real Christianity. He should be the King of every room. That is the real challenge of this Feastday. My canon law professor put it this way: In your personal life you should feel comfortable having Jesus sitting next to you while you are doing whatever you are doing. If you try to hide from God, even if no one else knows about what you are doing, then Christ is not the King of your life. Acknowledging Christ as King means that you are in steady contact with the Lord, so that all we do is dedicated to him. Jesus must be the “Dominus,” the dominant influence in our lives. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you at mass this weekend as we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. Fr. Greg Dear parish family and friends of St. Julia, Since my arrival here at St. Julia in July of 2019, my goodness have we been through alot together. In midst of it all, many good things have taken place in our parish. Most of all, I pray that we have grown in our faith. Please consider this your invitation to join me this Monday evening, November 14th, in our Divinity Room from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Faith for today. Vision for tomorrow. As a caring Roman Catholic Community, it is my blessed opportunity to nourish each of you in your faith for today. Together, we look to the future, as we share our vision for tomorrow. Powered and inspired by the Holy Spirit, and fueled by Synod, we face these opportunities and challenges together. I have included the agenda for the evening in this newsletter, and the minutes will be included next week. I hope to see you there. 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, It has been a busy and blessed start to the month of November here at St. Julia. From the celebration of a funeral for a founding member of our parish, All Saints mass on Tuesday, All Souls mass on Tuesday morning, a funeral chapel service Wednesday afternoon, our Memorial Mass Wednesday evening, our Holy Hour this morning, a BLD mass this evening at the Cathedral at 8:00 p.m. (open to everyone), a chapel funeral service Saturday morning, and our masses this weekend. I have been most blessed to witness how the Holy Spirit is alive in our parish and community. In my now six plus years of priesthood, as I noted at our memorial mass, celebrating the anointing of the sick and journeying with families as they say goodbye to their loved one has been some of the most touching and moving times in my ministry. It is at these times when hearts are moved, reminding one of the importance of our faith, our relationship with God and our creator, and that we will see our loved ones again in heaven. Just as important is that we need to continue praying for those who have gone before us, and that those prayers are what continue to keep us connected. Yes, the funeral is for the beloved family member or friend who has died. But the funeral mass is for the living as well – all those who mourn the loss of a loved one or friend. It is meant to bring comfort, strength, and peace to all, and to assure the family that they are not alone, and that this parish family is here to pray alongside them. So why should the funeral be held at the church? It is in the church where we welcomed that soul into the family of faith, at baptism, and it is at the church, at the funeral mass, where we entrust that soul to the love and mercy of God. The beautiful mass, and the eucharistic prayers are offered just for that loved one – your loved one. Plus, as I say, we are no closer to our loved ones who have gone before us than at the celebration of the mass – every mass. As we pray for all the departed souls who have gone before us, I pray that each of you, who mourn the loss of the loved one, whether it be recent or many years ago, be assured of my prayers and the prayers of your family here at St. Julia. May these prayers bring you comfort, strength, and peace. This weekend we welcome the seven-year-old children from our parish preparing for the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist at our 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning mass. May God bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to seeing you and welcoming you to mass this weekend. Fr. Greg |
AuthorFrom Our Pastor Archives
July 2024
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