St. Francis of Assisi and St. Julia These are the two other images that will adorn our sanctuary soon. St. Francis of Assisi, the man of God and of th...
Peace To speak on behalf of peace and to condemn war is what decent people do. To stand up for peace and to put the authors of war in their place is.....
Jesus Has Risen! He Will Always Rise. For He is Alive And He is Our Salvation. May the joy and the hope of our risen Christ be yours always so that yo...
The Holiest of Weeks I think that the best spiritual guidance I can share with you, my dear sisters and brothers, is to try to be attentive as much as...
A Spiritual Practice for Holy Week As we approach Holy Week we prepare ourselves to remember our Lord’s suffering and crucifixion. It is a time of l...
Here We Go Again! War again. More suffering again. More innocent people and children slaughtered again. Will it ever end!? It doesn’t matter what si...
Beautifying Our Church With Love and Devotion It is my hope that you like how our church remodel is coming along. Many have asked if it will be comple...
💜Ashes On Our Hearts💜 Let your heart lead you into Lent. Follow the way of your heart. Let your heart speak to you. Give your heart the freedom ...
Lent: How Can We Make it Meaningful We all know that Lent is a time of spiritual preparation and spiritual discipline. The sacrifices and the acts of ...
We Are Blessed The Bishop’s Annual Appeal is about to begin again and we, at St. Julia, have already surpassed our goal! How did we do that? How did...
Read This Face? / ¿Lees esta cara? I can’t help but see so much frustration and despair in the face of this woman. I don’t know if her closed fis...
A Simple Desire for Peace that has Moved the Hearts of Thousands Un simple deseo de paz que ha conmovido los corazones de miles de personas. Lea en es...
So, here we are at the beginning of 2026.When we look back at 2025, what do we see? When we look forward to 2026, what do we hope for? Go ahead and......
We Shall Not Ignore the Holy Families. We Will Not Forget You. This picture captures the many families throughout the world who find themselves homele...
Willingly, We Will Awaken to God. Willingly, We Will Respond Lovingly to God’s Invitations. In Acts 17:28 we hear: “For in Him we live, and move, ...
A letter from the Bishop of Raleigh • Una Carta del Obispo de Raleigh Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Immigration is not merely a matter of pub...
Have you seen Jesus lately? Keep looking. Keep searching. Keep longing. Keep yearning. Happy Thanksgiving! You are in my prayers and in my heart. Peac...
“Am I not here, I who am your Mother?” She came to the people as a young girl with cinnamon color skin, dressed with the stars of the heavens, ill...
Does Anyone Else Feel Like This, or Am I the Only One? I have to be honest, I don’t like what’s going on in this country of ours. There is much th...
Help Me to Hang On! My good people, our beautiful parish family continues to grow and so do your spiritual and social needs. There is only one bit of ...
To Our English-Speaking People that Worship in English Hi! I try not to use the terms “English-speaking community and Spanish-speaking community” ...
A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That There’s a lot going on at our parish. Let me share with you what is going on: Our faith formation clas...
Christian Maturity I was a middle school teacher for quite a few years. It’s by a miracle that I still have any hair left on my head. The principal ...
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!! Dear Good People of St. Julia, I want to thank everyone who worked and contributed to making our Parish Festival a g...
Young People Are Awesome Christians On Sunday, September 7th, Pope Leo will declare that two young men, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati are sai...
When the Well Runs Dry That is the title of a book that was published many years ago. It speaks about those times when we feel spiritually dry without...
Pondering It is recorded in the Gospels that Our Blessed Mother pondered many things in her heart. Being the mother of Jesus the adult must have been ...
Are We Truly In Touch With One Another? Are We Truly Aware of Each Other? Are We Present to the Other? When we are young time passes slowly. The older...
God the Artist Don’t ever stand behind or next to an artist while he or she is creating something. Artists need room, space, and not so much convers...
A Little Rest on the Horizon / Un Poco de Descanso en el Horizonte My vacation time begins on July 1st but I will meet with the Dean of our Deaner...
An Ordinary Way to Heaven God only knows how many times we have said and felt that life is just too hectic…too fast. How many times have we felt lik...
Beautifying our Church for the Glory of God / Embelleciendo nuestra Iglesia para la Gloria de Dios Dear Good People of God, It is my hope to have th...
Fifty Treasures for the Lord On this Sunday, fifty of our children, fifty treasures, will make their First Communion. They will approach the table of ...
Sometimes There is Truth in Jest Have you ever felt like you have nothing to say for the moment? Have you ever been in a situation where you were expe...
A Reflection on Communal Contemplative Prayer Practice at St. Julia As you know, an opportunity for communal contemplative prayer is offered at St. Ju...
A New Beginning for the Church? Oh, Please, Lord, Don’t Let it be So! I do understand that, seen from a spiritual or even from a psychological persp...
Thank you, Pope Francis Gracias, Papa Francisco. Every pope brings his own charism, spirituality, experiences, and perspectives to the papacy, togethe...
“Resurrection” Here I am sitting in our living room watching the movie “Mission” with my brother friars. It’s a very difficult movie to watc...
Let Christ’s Humility and Peace Enter Your Heart What a wonderful way to begin Holy Week with a couple of our parishioners sharing something of thei...
Good Challenges Are Sometimes Hard to Swallow I recently read an article in which there appeared a picture of a church sign that read: “Kind Atheist...
How can I begin to express my gratitude to the many people who have made this year’s week-long celebration possible? What words would I use to express how wonderfully our community has come together to celebrate Our Mother and to express the faith that I continue to witness in God and in one another?
¡Esperanza! El Adviento tiene que ver con la esperanza. Una esperanza juvenil que llena nuestras mentes y corazones con un sentido de gozosa expectativa. Se trata del tipo de expectativa que nos dice que todo será bueno y brillante, y que nos llena de ganas de vivir cada momento con una sensación de asombro. Nuestra celebración del Adviento tiene que ver con la esperanza, el sentido de gozoso asombro y el deseo de vivir una vida plena como Dios ha querido para nosotros. Aquí en St. Julia, nos convertimos en esos maravillosos girasoles que giran hacia la luz del sol. Dirigimos nuestra atención a la luz de Jesús, quien nos manifiesta que Dios camina con nosotros y llena nuestras vidas con la alegre esperanza que proviene de saber que somos maravillosamente amados e iluminados por un Dios muy compasivo. Espero que aprovechemos la oportunidad espiritual que nos ofrece el Adviento y nos dediquemos un poco más a la oración y a alimentar nuestra fe en la compañía de Dios. Oro para que se llenen de muchas bendiciones y lleguen a conocer una esperanza profundamente sentida en sus vidas. El tipo de esperanza que te fortalece, te inspira y te guía en todos los aspectos de tu vida. Que podamos aprovechar este tiempo y recrear un corazón que desea que Jesús nazca y renazca a medida que avanzamos en la vida.
The humanitarian crisis that exists at the southern border of the United States has been going on for such a long time that, perhaps, we have become numb to the suffering of the people there. It goes without saying that, as Christians, we cannot allow ourselves to ever be complacent to the suffering of any human being.
Hay algunas parejas en nuestra comunidad parroquial que no han celebrado el sacramento del matrimonio. Existen muchas razones para estas situaciones y simplemente quiero que sepan que los respeto con profunda comprensión.
Hace dos semanas, el Papa Francisco abrió un nuevo capítulo en la historia de nuestra Iglesia Católica. Se llama "El camino sinodal". Este es un proceso que tendrá lugar en la Iglesia Católica en todo el mundo. Todas las diócesis del mundo están llamadas a participar creando foros de escucha, discusión y discernimiento mutuos sobre diversos asuntos de nuestra Iglesia, en los que los laicos participarán activamente. El fruto de esta consulta se recopilará en un documento en 2022. Todo esto es en preparación para el Sínodo de los Obispos que se celebrará en Roma en 2023. Es mi deseo que nosotros, como Pueblo de Dios de Santa Julia, participemos activamente. A medida que recibamos más orientación de la Diócesis, se la comunicaré a todos ustedes. Sé que nuestra participación activa nos dará la bendición de unirnos a todas nuestras hermanas y hermanos católicos en todo el mundo y nos permitirá levantar la voz en los importantes asuntos que serán discutidos. Es el deseo del Santo Padre, el Papa Francisco, que se escuche la voz del pueblo. El Consejo Pastoral de nuestra parroquia encabezará la organización del proceso consultivo dentro de nuestra parroquia. Junto a mí, los miembros del Consejo Pastoral crearán la mejor manera para que todos podamos participar. Espero que muchos de nosotros lo hagamos porque sus conocimientos, opiniones y discernimiento son de gran valor para la vida de la Iglesia Católica. En cada sesión del Concilio Vaticano II, los obispos del mundo comenzarían con la misma oración: “Adsumus Sancte Spiritus” (Estamos ante Ti, Espíritu Santo). También comenzamos nuestra participación en este importante momento en nuestra Iglesia Católica con esta misma oración: “Estamos ante Ti, Espíritu Santo, mientras nos reunimos en Tu Nombre. Contigo solo para guiarnos, siéntete como en casa en nuestros corazones; Enséñanos el camino que debemos seguir y cómo debemos seguirlo. Somos débiles y pecadores; no nos dejes promover el desorden. No dejes que la ignorancia nos lleve por el camino equivocado ni la parcialidad influya en nuestras acciones. Encontremos en Ti nuestra unidad para que podamos caminar juntos hacia la vida eterna y no se desvíe del camino de la verdad y la justicia. Todo esto te lo pedimos, que estás obrando en todo lugar y tiempo, en la comunión del Padre y del Hijo, por los siglos de los siglos. Amén. Oro para que aquí en St. Julia cosechemos una rica cosecha de bendiciones gracias a nuestra participación. Que la voz del Pueblo de Dios se eleve y se escuche en beneficio de nuestra Iglesia y de la humanidad. Están en mis oraciones y en mi corazón. Paz, Fray Julio