Dear parishioners and friends of St. Julia Parish,
 
Recently I have been thinking more and more about the need to offer prayers of thanksgiving.  This sounds nice, yet so many times it is over looked.  How important it is, at the end of day, along with an examination of conscience, to simply count our blessings.  To list off ten things that I am thankful for.  The simple idea of opening my heart to God in thanksgiving has the power to transform my life and remind myself, ourselves, that we are truly blessed.  If there is something weighing on our heart, the blessings outweigh that something.
 
In our Gospel from Mark 6:30-34 this Sunday, Jesus reminds us of the need to pause, to take a break from the routine, and to enter more fully in placing ourselves in the presence of the Lord.  Some spiritual authors have referred to this “pause that refreshes” or as I learned in the seminary “living in the present moment.”  By placing ourselves in the presence of our Lord and turning to our Lord in prayer, we have the opportunity to encounter our Lord, to pause, and to simply allow the love of Christ to pour over us.  Counting our blessings is just one example.
  
May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love.
 
Fr. Greg

Dear parishioners and friends of St. Julia Parish,
 
I love the early morning in our church.  When it is still somewhat dark, with minimal lights, and the lights on our beautiful crucifix.  And to simply be still.
 
It has always been, is, and will always be, past, present, and future, my heartfelt desire is to lead each of us and those entrusted to my care to God, His son Jesus Christ, and to get us to heaven.  It is in the stillness where we come to know God, and through prayer communicate with Him.  There is no better place to do so than in church, our church of St. Julia.  Consider joining us for Mass a little earlier to offer your prayers of thanksgiving and blessings, and to offer and make known your petitions.  And to simply be still.  It will feel good.
 
May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to you joining me for the celebration of Mass this weekend.
 
Fr. Greg

My dear friends in Christ,
  
When you and I were baptized, we were anointed with Sacred Chrism while the following prayer was said: “As Christ was anointed priest, prophet, and king, so may you live always as a member of His body, sharing everlasting life.” With these words, we were all given a share in the prophetic mission of Jesus, to proclaim the gospel by our thoughts, words, and deeds.

What does it mean to be prophetic? What is a prophet? A prophet is a person who speaks the truth in God’s name regardless of the consequences. The role of a prophet is not an easy one, filled with only glory and reward. All three figures in this weekends readings are challenged by the task that God has laid before them. Ezekiel is being sent to a rebellious, hard-faced, obstinate people. Saint Paul puts up with mistreatment, distress, persecutions, and difficulties. Jesus is rejected by his own countrymen, neighbourhood, and ultimately by the whole nation. A prophet goes to proclaim God’s agenda setting aside his/her own.

The challenge of the prophet is to speak the truth regardless of the consequences.  The reality is, this is no easy task with family, co-workers, friends, neighours...the very people that are closest to us and that we love and adore. Many of us place heavy stress on “acceptance”. We all want to be popular; we want to be affirmed. We want to be accepted by those around us. At times it seems that we determine our actions, not by how much they conform to what is true, right, and good, but by how much acceptance they will get for us among our peers. Because of this, we often neglect to perform those acts and say those things which are truly prophetic because we don’t want to be rejected. A prophet must learn how to deal with rejection. Ezekiel, St. Paul, and Jesus were rejected.

So what is one to do?  "Come Holy Spirit!"  Pray to the Holy Spirit to help you find the words.  Call upon the saints to intercede.  In our very secular culture we need all the help we can get.  Perhaps most important, and what required no words, is our witness, the way we live and conduct our lives.  Our witness has the power to plant seeds in hearts, seeds of truth

May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to you joining me for the celebration of Mass this weekend when we will fuel up for the week ahead.  Stay cool!

Fr. Greg

My dear friends in Christ,
 
Some of the most comforting words found in Sacred Scripture are the words “Do not be afraid.”  We will again here Jesus speak these words this weekend as will be proclaimed in Mark 5:21-43.  These are Jesus’ words, meant to come alive for us.  Fear can keep us from living our lives as God calls us and wants us to live.  Free of fear, anxiety, and free of sin.  We are called to replace fear with hope, anxiety with peace, and sin with grace.  Quite simply, that is what I want for all of us – my family and each of you my spiritual family.

As always, it is my prayer that when you leave the doors of our church, that you leave with a sense of peace in your heart, and that any fear be replaced with the peace of Christ.

This weekend we welcome Fr. Jorge Fernando Duarte Amaro, IMC, from Consolata Missionaries for our annual mission appeal.  Learn more about Consolata Missionaries.
  
May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to you joining me for the celebration of Mass this weekend.
 
Fr. Greg

My dear friends in Christ,
 
This Sunday in our Gospel from Mark 4:35-41, we will hear Jesus speak the words “Quiet!  Be Still!”  What a gift it is for us to come to our spiritual home of St. Julia, and to pause in the busyness of our lives.  To be fed with the Word of God and physically with the Body of Christ.  To kneel in a sacred space.  To be with fellow disciples.  To offer prayers of thanksgiving.  And to be still. 
 
In this same Gospel, it is very clear when the question is posed:  Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?  If we accept the Gospel account that the wind and the sea obeyed Jesus, then we must answer this question.  If we reject that the wind and the sea obeyed Jesus, then we are left without faith and without any belief that this Jesus has any special role.
 
It is this Jesus, I pray, who has a very special role and place in your life.  This Jesus who you hunger to welcome into the very depths of your soul.  To open your heart to, and to simply be with, in our home of St. Julia.
 
It is our faith and belief in Jesus that carries us through this journey of life.  And when we are faced with the next winds in life, it will be Jesus who carries us once again, and to bring the calm we so desire.  That is faith in action.  That is who we are.
 
May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to you joining me for the celebration of Mass this weekend.
 
Fr. Greg

My dear friends in Christ,
 
Before entering the lower entrance, you will notice our beautiful gardens, many of the flowers just on the brink of entering into bloom.  I was told by our volunteer gardener who so lovingly cares for our grounds that the first year will be good, the second year even better, and the third year will be quite spectacular.  Some of the plants, the lilies in particular, will be five to six feet in height, with as many as 50 blooms on them!  This however takes time.  The vast majority of these plants came from a mail order catalog, and when they arrived did not look like much.  Everything was carefully planted, staked, and watered.
 
This Sunday in our Gospel from Mark 4:26-34, we will hear Jesus tell us the parable of the mustard seed.  The mustard seed, “when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.  But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”  The mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds, and yet has the potential to become the largest of plants.  This takes time.
 
The same can be said of our gardens.  With each passing year the roots get more and more established, and the results, well, we will see in the coming weeks, months, and years.  This too takes time.  And the same too can be said about out spiritual lives and building up the kingdom of God in our homes, schools, places of work, our community, and our world.  Each of us have the potential deep within.  The seeds of faith were planted many years ago.  We need to care for those seeds lovingly and nurture them – with the Word of God and the finest food – the Body and Blood of Christ.  There is simply nothing better, with proven results.  Those results are abundant fruit, a richness in our spiritual lives, and peace, an inner peace that can be found no where else.  Once again, all this takes time.
 
It is my prayer that as you join me for Mass this weekend, that the seeds of faith will be fed, and that you will be renewed in mind, body, and spirit. 
 
May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love.

Fr. Greg

In our second reading this weekend from St. Paul to the Corinthians, we will hear the words proclaimed “we have a building from God.”

Indeed, this building, this place of worship, this church is our home.  Thousands upon thousands of masses have been celebrated and offered here.  Our community, generation after generation have gathered to offer our prayers of petition and thanksgiving.  We have gathered for joyous celebrations, from baptisms, first communions, confirmations, graduations, and weddings, and we have gathered at times when we needed God the most, and the support of this community, when we have said goodbye to loved ones and our fellow disciples.  Our gifted choir has enriched our celebrations with song.  We have experienced God’s healing within these walls with the sacraments of reconciliation and the anointing of the sick.  St. Vincent de Paul, Legion of Mary, C.W.L., and Development and Peace have reached out to our sisters and brothers in need, both near and far, beyond the walls of this church.  And we have gathered as friends, for parish BBQ’s and other celebrations.  The list goes on, and on, and on.

This building has been entrusted to us from God.  We continue to care and beautify this church, making it a warm and welcoming place, for this generation and generations to come.

What truly makes this building, this church from God special is you.  Thank you for making this building, this community what it is.  It is my honour to call this church home and to be a part of this parish family.

I look forward to gathering for mass this Sunday in this church dedicated to St. Julia, this building from God.

May God bless each of you and those that you love,

Fr. Greg

My dear friends in Christ,

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI remarked at Mass for the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ that “the Eucharist has the power to unite people, strengthen them and remind them that only God is worthy of worship.”  He would go on to say "to adore the body of Christ means to believe that there, in that piece of bread, there really is Christ who gives meaning to our lives, to the immense universe as well as to the smallest creature and to all of human history as well as to the briefest existence."
 
What is it that brings us together?  That is what this Sunday is all about.  The Eucharist.  It is what unites us, and with the Word of God, is the spiritual food that we need.  Once again, we are reminded that we are an Easter people, not just for the fifty days of Easter, but always.  We are people of hope.  We seek out that which unites us and brings us together.  And that is the Eucharist.  To be present and still in a sacred place.  To sit and adore our saviour on our beautiful crucifix.  To come together, and know from the very depths of our soul that we are all loved.
 
I look forward to you joining me for Mass this Corpus Christi Sunday.
 
May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love.

Fr. Greg

My dear friends,
Our Trinity 
 
How have you defined God as Trinity? 
God for us, we call You Father, 
God alongside us, we call You Jesus, 
God within us, we call You Holy Spirit. 
 
You are the Eternal Mystery that enables, enfolds, and enlivens all things, even us and even me. 
 
Every name falls short of your goodness and greatness. 
We can only see who You are in what is. 
We ask for such perfect seeing. 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. 
Amen. 
 
The above prayer comes from author Richard Rohr, Simplicity.
 
Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.   (2 Corinthians 13:14)
 
Sometimes less is more.
 
Whether in person or virtually, I look forward to you joining me for Mass this Trinity Sunday.
 
May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love.
Fr. Greg

My dear friends in Christ,
 
This Sunday we celebrate the great Solemnity of Pentecost and our Easter season of 50 days will draw to a close.  “Come Holy Spirit” is the theme of our celebrations and a reminder to each of us that we need to call upon the Holy Spirit every day.  How very true this is.  These gifts that we received at our confirmation are precious.  The question is, do I call upon these gifts?  Really and truly?  Do I call upon the gift of wisdom, and value spiritual things over worldly ones?  Do I contemplate the things of God?  Do I call upon the gift of courage, and stand up for God and His truths?  There is no doubt that this is what the world needs, and it starts in my own home.  Do I pray for the gift of knowledge?  This is the awareness of God’s plan.  This can be a challenge and requires trust.  Yet this is what we must pray for.  Do I pray for the gift of wonder and awe that increases my desire to draw closer to God and depart from sin?  The list goes on.  Here we have yet another challenge, but opportunity too.  When we call upon these gifts it has the power to change – wait – transform our lives, and live a rich and full life in communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
 
Here is a reflection from a lady by the name of Marion who I met on a summer assignment in reflecting on the Holy Spirit…
 
If I look upwards, I will find the Spirit of God waiting to be invited into my heart, soul, spirit, life, to raise me to a new level of love, consciousness and intensity.  To love as Jesus loves makes me realize that I do not have His patience, tolerance, or depth of forgiveness.  This is where His Spirit comes in, and that is why the Spirit is given to us.  If I have the Spirit of Jesus living in my heart, then, surely, I can be a channel of His love, patience, and forgiveness in the lives of others.  Open your heart, invite the Spirit in. 'Come Spirit, breath, and power of God.  Enter my heart, and generate within me the heart of Jesus.  Let His love, forgiveness, and service flow through me to others.’  
 
May we call upon the Holy Spirit, the advocate, to make a home in our hearts, and to be an instrument of peace, love, and hope.
 
I look forward to you joining me for Mass this Pentecost Sunday.  Wear red!
 
May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love.

Fr. Greg