The Emmaus Pastorate’s Podcast

Good Friday Homily 2023

Were you there?  Of course you weren't!  But that's not question.  If it was, anything we do around God's altar would be purposeless, and everything Jesus endured would be just a history lesson!  The real question is: Are you there?  Are you there when people are crucified?  Are you there when people are nailed to a cross?  Are you there when people are laid in their tombs?  Are you there?

Holy Thursday Homily 2023

Do.  Do it to the felon, the transgender, the gay, the illegal immigrant, and every other social outcast.  Do.  Want to be a disciple of Jesus?  Do.

Homily on 4-2-23

"Lord, it's hard to be holy."

Yup!  Sometimes it really is!  And sometimes we aren't very good at it.  Just look at Peter.  He denied Jesus three times and was named the first pope!  We sometimes deny Jesus too, but Jesus' love and mercy for us overpowers those times and makes us holy just like the apostles!  Can you turn to someone and say, "Truly, this IS the Son of God?"

Homily on 3-26-23

Do you want to be resurrected?  The obvious answer is yes, but sometimes we don't really act like it.  Jesus is certainly trying to resurrect us - right from the moment we're baptized!  But it's not something he imposes on us; we have to ask for and accept it.  How's your Lent going five weeks in?

Homily on 3-20-23

It wasn't flashy.  It wasn't miraculous.  It probably wasn't much fun.  But it was important.  It was obedience.  And it was God's mission.  St. Joseph isn't quoted at all in the scriptures, and we know very little about him.  Most of what we do know comes from his dreams!  But he has a lot to teach us despite his silence.  Happy Solemnity of St. Joseph from St. Joseph Parish in Elkader!

Homily on 3-19-23

Blind spots.  The blind man had them, but so did the Pharisees.  And so do we.  What are yours?

Homily on 3-12-23

Are you thirsty?  Jesus was, but the women at the well was more so.  She just didn't realize it until Jesus, a Galilean, struck up a conversation.  For what did she unknowingly thirst?  Jesus!  The Word of God!  In a word: salvation!  And we thirst for the same thing.  Go ask Jesus for some of that life saving water, and you might just be surprised with the hope that fills you!

Homily on 3-5-23

Be transfigured!  Be transformed!  Be a reflection!

Homily on 2-26-23

IF!  Small world...big consequences!  "IF you are the Son of Man, then...," said the devil.  IF we are Christians, then... we might just learn who the Son of Man is.  Take some time this week and think about that.  Who is this man?  And what does that have to do with me?

Homily on 2-19-23

"Be perfect as your Father is perfect," said Jesus.  Sounds easy doesn't it?!  And then St. Paul says, "Do you not know that you are temples of the Holy Spirit?"  Sometimes we might feel good and holy, perfect and temple-like.  Other times maybe not so much.  But every time we look in the mirror and every time we look at someone else, we see a holy person, a person made in the image and likeness of God, someone striving for perfection.  What do you see when you look across the aisle?  What looks back when you look in the mirror?