Hilltop Gardens – 10th anniversary

In my chapel during the foot-washing ceremony on Holy Thursday

Today we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Hilltop Gardens which has been my home for the past 9 and a half years. Since I returned from the USA in April 2016, a few weeks later I was asked to celebrate a Mass in a chapel at Hilltop Gardens, a fairly new Retirement Village opened in December 2015. They told me that someone will pick me up, and after celebrating the Mass for 12 people, I was driven back home. Within a few hours another phone call came with a message that said 'Father Julian, they liked you over there, so now you'll take care of that chapel.' That meant saying daily Mass with the congregation increasing to 20, then 30 , and presently I'm getting between 40 and 50 people daily, standing room only, besides limited room for wheelchairs. Of course I had to add an extra Mass on Saturday evening and an English Mass on Sunday. I was also asked to celebrate regular Masses at the local parish in Naxxar. That gave me 5 weekend Masses and one to two daily Masses. By 2018 I was living here permanently also because my sister passed away 4 years later and we lost our home in St. Julian's. 

Hilltop Gardens Village with the chapel in the middle

There are two sections of this Village, an independent section where residents live on their own, cooking for themselves and participating in various activities organized on a regular basis. There is also a Care Home called Simblija with nurses and carers taking care of the elderly residents and their everyday needs. Most of the residents attend Mass regularly but I also visit those unable to attend for communion calls. Obviously I lost a lot of residents over the past 9 and a half years, precisely 160, most of whom I did their funerals. Every 2 weeks I offer PowerPoint talks to the residents on various topics, mainly religious, but other cultural and artistic subjects besides entertaining them with my flute. The Retirement Village offers the facility of underground parking, a swimming pool, a restaurant, a gym and other amenities.