July- a month of great blessings

July is always a great month.  This particular July was filled with blessings.  July 1 is Canada Day and I am very proud to be Canadian.  July 4 is our wedding anniversary and this year we celebrated thirty five years of growing together.  July 8 was the Calgary Stampede and July 9 is my hubby birthday.  It was the first time in 6 years that my family and my inlaws were together in one room.  July also saw my being able to be with my Women Talk tribe at a dinner on a beautiful property outside of Calgary and also the blessing of attending a radical joy retreat with Karen Neuls.  The most amazing part of my month was being able to travel from Calgary to Edmonton to see the Pope.  His theme for this trip of healing, truth, justice and reconciliation was #walkingtogether.  I truly believe it is a very necessary first step for the Church to initiate the healing we need for our first nations, inuit and metis brothers and sisters and really all of us to heal the sins of the past.  It was so very moving to be in His presence.  I could feel God with us this particular day.  I could feel it strongly.  I actually don't have words for the way it made me feel.  However to experience it with Paulo jr was a one of the best opportunities of my life.  The Pope has his Popemobile and was so close to us.  If he had stood up and if I leaned over I could have touched him.  It is a day that will never be replicated!  I am so grateful to God to have been in this open air mass.  I love God with my whole heart.  Being there affirmed my love of the Catholic Church.  I am a Catholic girl deep down in my heart.  I love God, I love angels and I love the power of prayer.  Being with so many faithful filled me up to overflowing.  It was not easy to get there.  Two days before we were to make our journey, Maxie, my chihuahua, had a seizure.  I was very aware of the dark trying to make me stay home.  And it almost worked.  
Except I had the power of God on my side.  He put it on my heart that I needed to go.  I actually got an email sign.
I want to share it with you.

The email said  Stop everything Giuliana, you are making the worst decision of your life! " Hello Giuliana, I know that you are listening to your intuition, your little voice, your guardian angel... but you are on the verge of making a terrible mistake.  Open your eyes, take a step back, and jot down what you are about to lose.  Sure the heart has its own reasons, which logic can never understand, but ignorance is only bliss for a short while, and waking up can often be more painful."
WOW.  This was just what I needed to read.  I knew what it meant.  I needed to trust God.  I needed to go on this trip.

Getting this sign, affirmed to me that the Divine always is communicating with us and we are responsible for paying attention.  Had I allowed my ego and fear to run me, I would have missed this once in a lifetime event.
There were so many beautiful synchronicities for me.  I am very aware of how God was working in my life.  My son loved the event and the trip, a friend came and spent time with us and took us around Edmonton, we saw neighbours in the Starbucks when we were having coffee, the theme room at the hotel was cheaper than the normal two bed suite and the weather was fabulous.  
This week the weather in Alberta has been intense with so much devastating hail.  I am so grateful.  
I want to share how faith is an anchor.  Today maybe examine your faith.  I promise it is worth it.

To share a little bit about the experience, I really had no expectations.  I just knew we were going to a mass with the Pope.  However as soon as we sat in our seats, I became very present.  I felt the air on my face, I felt the sun on my face, I felt my son's arm on mine and I felt the loving energy of the beautiful woman who sat next to me.
There was a pre-mass program and when the Pope was just about to enter you could feel the energy shift.  It was a Holy Moment!  The whole stadium became silent and it was so profound and powerful to be in that energy. There were over forty thousand in attendance. I had set the intention of bringing all the prayers of my group, my family and friends and my mentor's community with me.  It was a very prayerful atmosphere and I just knew that all the intentions of our hearts were being heard.  

Bishop McGratten, who is our Bishop in Calgary was in attendance and said " When we entered to procession for mass and I saw the number of people on the field and in the stands, you had this sense of presence of Christ in those who had gathered to be with the Holy Father."  I agree.  It was super powerful.

The papal mass was celebrated on the feast day of St. Joachim and St. Anne.  These are the grandparents of Jesus.  Pope Francis used this opportunity to speak about the importance of grandparents and family cohesion during this homily.  I felt all my grandparents and ancestors during this time.  I also felt the love of my beautiful parents.  I healed deeply in those few hours.  My love for my family was overflowing.  I am very grateful to them for all they have done for me.

My heart knew why were there.  We were there to witness a step in healing, truth, justice and reconciliation.  We were there because of the atrocities of the past done in the name of the church.  I held space for healing.  I prayed for healing to begin and continue.  It was hard on my heart to watch the hate so many have for the Pope.  He is blamed for all the pedofiles we have in the church, and he carries the burdens of all the sins of others.  I know that God was not in those who perpetrated these crimes.  I hope for healing and I hope that we can somehow come together in love. I was in gratitude that our Pope, eighty five years old and not well physically, made an effort to bridge the gap of hatred, anger and evil.  I thought that it was a great gesture to show up and share our sorrow and apology to the first nations, inuit, and metis peoples.  Residential schools were horrible.  I will never understand why we allowed that to happen.  We being humanity.

The future lies with the all of us,  in the hopes that we will learn from history and build a better society where this will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! We must build a culture of goodwill and reconciliation in our own hearts and take that out into the world.  

Like I commented on a friend of mine facebook post about the gifting of the headdress, I have the hope that Pope Francis carries God in his heart, the forgiveness of Jesus and the hope of humanity in his message.  I pray and hope for healing.  I know it is possible.  I believe with my entire being in the Power of God.  I believe in the Power of love and in forgiveness to move forward.  I believe we must always remember what happened and never lose sight of the intention of truth, justice, healing and reconciliation in not only this situation AND in our own lives.

I was honoured to have had this blessing!  I was grateful to have had life to enjoy this day.  I am hopeful that my son also healed a part of his soul and got filled up as much as I did.  This trip was one of the greatest blessings of my life.  I left Edmonton with the knowing that I must seek to heal my life so as to be a part of the healing of humanity.  That is how important it is.  I left Edmonton with the intention of truly being an observer to other's pain and to be an even better me than I was before this experience.

One thing I know for sure??  There is a BIG GOD and we are loved so very much.  He weeps at the injustice man does to man.  He gave His only son to us, in our image, so that we would know forgiveness and eternal life.

This month, a truly wonderful woman, Sandra Tremblay passed to the light.  I could feel her spirit with us.  She is love and will be missed.
I hope that this blog helped fuel your faith.  If I can be of service please reach out.
With love.... lets continue to #walktogether 
​Giuliana 

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