The celebration of the birth of our Saviour has arrived.  Welcome to Christmas at St. Julia 2021.  Whether in person or virtually, I am grateful that we will be able to gather together as a parish family, united in prayer, for this most beautiful and joyous occasion.  In the midst of everything that we are going through, together, we need this celebration.  May we hear the words “Glory to God in the Highest” as if we are hearing them sung by the angels themselves 2000 plus years ago in Bethlehem.
 
The birth of Jesus is the greatest work of God because it illuminates for us God’s great love for each and every one of us.  God took on our human flesh, becoming one of us, by sending his son Jesus Christ to walk with us and to give us such a beautiful glimpse into the heart of our creator.  Our salvation and eternal happiness rest in the loving arms of Jesus Christ.  It is this Christ who continues to navigate us through these challenges times.
 
It is with open arms (socially distanced of course) that I welcome you to our Christmas celebrations.  This caring community of believers is a place where all are welcome, and it is my prayer that every time you join us you are drawn into the great mystery of our faith – a faith centered on Jesus Christ, the second     person of the Holy Trinity, the Word made flesh.  This is what we celebrate with the birth of Jesus – the Prince of Peace. 
 
It is my prayer that you experience and encounter the peace of Christ when you join us for Mass.  May it be the greatest gift that you will receive this Christmas.
 
May the peace of Christ be with you this Christmas season, and may our loving God bless each of you and those that you love, today and always.
 
Merry Christmas!
Fr. Greg

Dominus vobiscum.  The Lord be with you.  We began the season of Advent with the question “Is God the dominant force in your life?”  Put another way, is God, is our Saviour, the center of your life?  As the season of Advent draws to a close, we make the final preparations for the solemn celebration of Christ’s birth, now in just a few short days.  So, I ask you and I the question, are we ready to welcome Christ into our heart’s this Christmas? 
 
In our first reading from the prophet Micah, a prophet who lived some seven-hundred years before the birth of Christ, he speaks of Bethlehem.  Bethlehem was one of the smallest and the least of the towns of Judah.  It would be chosen, by God, as the place where “God made flesh,” the Messiah, would be born, and come into our world.  From a place so insignificant came something so great.  All out of love.
 
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 the Lord be with you, this day and always.
Fr. Greg

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.
 
When I was a seminarian at Our Lady of the Scapular Parish in Niagara Falls, I met a faith-filled lady who I admire to this day.  She shared with me an explanation of the Advent wreath: 
 
The Advent wreath is a symbol of the 4-week wait and preparation in our hearts for Jesus’ birth. 
 
The green branches (“ever green” or “ever alive”) remind us of the new life we have in Jesus (Jesus died for us but is now alive and never to die again). 
 
The prickly pines remind us of the crown of thorns that was put on Jesus head.
 
The circle of the wreath reminds us that His love has no beginning and no end. 
 
The holly berries represent drops of blood……the blood Jesus shed for us on the cross. 
 
The candles represent the light Jesus brings into a dark world. 
 
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 “Lessons & Carols” Sunday evening; our Advent Reconciliation Service Wednesday evening, or 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 and keep safe each of you and those that you love,
Fr. Greg

Picture it.  Confirmation 2020.  I am sitting beside Bishop Bergie and I whisper over “don’t forget the Gloria.”  He replied, “Fr. Greg, there is no Gloria during Advent.”  Opps, after we had recited the Gloria at all our masses last year on the First Sunday of Advent.  I don’t remember much of the Confirmation after that.  Amen that I did not make the same mistake this year.  We are creatures of habit and learn from our mistakes.  So why is it that we do not recite, or sing the Glory to God in the Highest during Advent?
 
There are some basic rules that were set by the Second Vatican Council in its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.  Within the cycle of a year the Church “unfolds” the whole mystery of Christ, from the incarnation and birth until the ascension, the day of Pentecost, and the expectation of blessed hope and the coming of the Lord (# 102).  The church is to be particularly directed toward feasts of the Lord that point to salvation (#108).
 
Put another way, a principle in ritual is to celebrate “feasts” and “fasts” in different ways to allow the mysteries of Christ to be made clear by the celebration.  The Resurrection of Christ takes pre-eminence and is characterized by 40 days of Lenten penance followed by the Sacred Triduum and 8 full days (the “Octave”) of Easter.  In the same way, Advent precedes Christmas as a time of preparation.  In a way, we “fast” in the liturgy to prepare for the “feast” of Christmas. 
 
We can also remember where the first words of the Gloria came from:  the Angels sang it to the shepherds the very night that Jesus was born.  So, when we will sing the Glory to God in the Highest at our Christmas masses, we will be caught up in a tremendous “feast” of the joy surrounding the birth of our Saviour.
 
As we enter this Second Week of Advent, may we embrace the season of preparation as a parish family here at St. Julia.  May we find precious moments to slow down and remember what this season is exactly all about.
 
O come, O come, Emmanuel.
 
May God bless and keep safe each of you and those that you love,
Fr. Greg