Recordings of Sunday homilies, special liturgies, and other messages from the Emmaus Pastorate.
People tend to accomplish the things or tasks most important to them. If that's true (and it usually is), where does discipleship fall on our priority list? Are we disciples even when it's difficult or inconvenient? Are we followers of Jesus all day every day in everything we do, think, and say? How important is our faith really??
Become what you receive! At least that's what we're supposed to do after receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. Become just that: Christ's Body, Blood, soul, and divinity in our world, the true presence of Christ to one another.
As Christians, we are born into and for each other. That's what it means to be a community, to exist in and for each other. And that's what the Trinity is at its very essence: three individual beings existing so harmoniously they aren't just like one being, but they are one being! As we welcome new members into the church and as we live our daily lives, may we remember that despite the hard times we all face as Christians we are still living in and for each other!
Come, Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of your love! Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and we will be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth!
Jesus has ascended. He's gone (in a sense). Now what? Do we stand here looking at the sky trying to understand everything? NO! We are witnesses of these things! And we must tell people about them! We must live this gospel in our lives in everything we say and do! That's how we share Christ with the world and share the hope and promise of the Resurrection. Maybe if the world sees more of that, tragedies wouldn't be so numerous.
Are you at peace? Seriously...are you at peace? What does that mean? What is peace? As an alleluia people, as an Easter people, we SHOULD be at peace! But are we? How do we get there? What's peace really mean for us?
We know the line. "They'll know we are Christians by our love." As the scripture goes, so does the song. And so should our lives because that's how a Christian's life is exemplified. People we know we follow Christ by our LOVE for each other! And in the context of a parish, there's no better way to do that than through all of the various ministries of Parish Life!
Congratulations to all our seniors as they graduate this weekend! Remember your Church family, but also remember to live with Jesus in your heart!
Who has your ear? To whom are you listening? There are so many people and ideas each with their own voice today, and all of them have something (good or bad) to offer us. But what about God? Does God - the Good Shepherd who knows you and calls you by name - have your ear? Hopefully the answer is yes!
"Come, have breakfast!" Jesus did such great things around meals: turned water into wine, fed 5,000 people, and told us how to live as Christians. He did the same thing after rising from the dead. He even cooks the meal this time! Such simple things can make us great disciples. So invite someone to breakfast, dinner, out for coffee or a drink. Little ordinary things can have such a big influence in peoples' lives!
What does the Eucharist mean? Why is it so important to Catholics? As we celebrate First Communion on this Divine Mercy Sunday (the Second Sunday of Easter), the First Communicants help Fr. John preach on the the meaning and importance of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. Congratulations to all the Emmaus Pastorate students who received their First Communion this weekend!
