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My dear friends in Christ, As we continue to navigate through COVID-19 with Christ as our guide, it is hard to believe that it has been six weeks since our last public weekend masses here at St. Julia. I pray that while this time has been filled with challenges, we have been able to reflect upon the blessed moments that God continues to grace us with. Moment by moment. That is so very key. Whenever we experience a change in our life, the loss of a friend or loved one, or perhaps the loss of a dream, people will ask how are you doing? If you are like me, you give the generic response of “good.” There are good days and bad days. I was once told it really is moment by moment. There are good moments, and not so good moments. But gradually, over time, we pray that there are more good moments. Those good moments guide us on the road to recovery. That really is the road that we are on at this moment – together – as we navigate through COVID-19. The guiding light through all of this, and all challenging times, is that Christ is our guide. Through the power of prayer and keeping ourselves rooted in our faith, we can get through these difficult times together. Just as Christ has navigated us through past difficulties and challenges, moment by moment, prayer by prayer, when in the moment nothing made sense, somehow, we made it through. That was only by the grace of God. And God will see us through this moment in time as well. As we continue through these most unprecedented times for many of us, may we do so together, united in prayer, with Christ as our guide. Amen. God bless and stay safe, Fr. Greg  That the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is a relatively ancient celebration? The Church at Jerusalem observed the feast as early as the first half of the fourth century, and likely earlier. The feast celebrates the presentation of Christ in the temple at Jerusalem on the 40th day after His birth. Just as we process in at the beginning of mass with lit blessed candles, the light of the candles symbolizes Christ, who is the Light of the World. This light symbolizes the infant Jesus, our Saviour, who entered into the temple with Mary and Joseph. God, our Father, who is the Source of all light, revealed to Simeon the Light of revelation to the nations. That was some 2020 years ago. So how are we to celebrate this feast today? We are reminded that we are to always bring that light of Christ we received at our own baptism to those who live in darkness. I admit, this is not always easy. It is with God’s grace that we are called to be the light of Christ today in our words, deeds, and actions, in our parish, in our families, and in our communities. Let us pray that, together, we may be the light of Christ for others – for each other!  That there is nothing “ordinary” about ordinary time? Bishop Bergie recently pointed out that for some “ordinary” implies a liturgical season that is uneventful or even unimportant. As we know this is far from the truth. The term “ordinary” is an English translation of the Latin word ordinalis which refers to numbers in a series. Here we find the origins of the English word “order”. So Ordinary Time is really “ordered time” which reminds us that God has ordered all things beginning with bringing order to chaos as found in The Book of Genesis. Let us use this period of time prior to Lent to order our parish life toward God and our Blessed Mother Mary. In this way we will be doing something “extraordinary” during Ordinary Time.  |
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