The Emmaus Pastorate’s Podcast

Homily on 12-15-24

"Rejoice!"  Paul didn't say, "Be happy!"  No, he said, "Rejoice!  Again I say, 'rejoice!'"  As we look at the last 10 days of Advent, we turn our minds from the penitential affect of the season to the joyful.  Joy is a foundational virtue of a Christians' life.  It reminds us that despite any unfortunate event in this life, there is a better result waiting for us: the Resurrection and eternal life!  So whenever life gets a little drear, remember that there's always a light shinning for us.  And his name is Jesus!

We'd like to also welcome back Fr. John Haugen!  He has been recovering from a heart attack over the last few weeks.  Although he's not back to full strength yet and he likely won't be featured on this podcast every week for a little while, we're glad to have him whenever we can!

Be Prepared. Homily from 12-8-24

Be Prepared.  It's the century-old Boy Scout motto even non Boy Scouts know so well.  As we look ahead to Christmas, John the Baptist cries out in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord!"  It's good to be prepared for life, and scouting definitely helps young men and women be so.  But what about our spiritual lives?  Are our hearts and minds prepared for eternal life, for the coming of Christ in our lives (both then and now)?  Consider cracking open your bible, going to confession, and adding something to your prayer life this Advent.  Are you ROOTED in those habits?  If not, there's still time to prepare!

Happy Advent! Homily from 12-1-24

Happy (liturgical) New Year!  As we begin the season of Advent and prepare for Christmas, we also turn our calendars to another year in the church.  It's time to reexamine our lives and our direction...hopefully they're both pointed toward Christ!  But if they're not, this is a good time for course correction.  As we wait for God's coming both at the end of time but also in our everyday lives, we can prepare our hearts, minds, and lives for those moments.  Fr. Dave Ambrosy shares with us three ways we can prepare for Christmas in this holy season of Advent.

1. Slow down - take time for God, for yourself, and for others.  In the hustle and bustle of the season, let's not forget the "reason for the season"!
2. Extra time for prayer - take an extra few minutes each day to talk and commune with God.  In the morning, maybe around lunch, or before bedtime, find 5-10 minutes to spend with our Lord wherever you are.
3. Go to confession - give yourself the best Christmas present ever by receiving absolution of all your sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation!  Visit a priest anytime or join us on December 18 at St. Mark Parish in Edgewood, IA for confessions.  We'll be serving a meal from 5:00pm-7:00pm, and several priests will be available to hear confessions from 6:00pm-8:00pm.  Receiving absolution is a beautiful way to prepare your heart for the holy season to come!

What Is Truth? Homily from 11-24-24

What is truth?  In the 21st century, where do we find truth?  There are lots of places offering a version of truth: the internet, social media, political parties and leaders, maybe friends and/or family too.  But what is truth at its core?  Well only one person can provide that, and his name is Jesus!  As we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe and the Global Celebration of Youth and Young Adults, let's ask ourselves where we're finding our truth as we end this liturgical year, look forward to Thanksgiving, and enter a new liturgical year with Advent next week.

Special thanks to Archbishop Thomas Zinkula for filling in for Fr. John Haugen this weekend as he completes his retreat and heart attack recovery!

Bonus: Homily from 11-17-24

Fr. Dave Ambrosy visited St. Mary Parish this weekend, and left us a message for these last days of Ordinary Time.  As we prepare for the end of the liturgical year and the coming season of Advent, are we prepared?  Are we ready for the coming of Christ at the end of time.  It's something to think about as we enter these last and first weeks!

Homily from 11-17-24

To whom are you faithful?  As we near the end of the church's liturgical year, we can ask ourselves whether or not we're ready for the end.  During these last few weeks, we hear scripture passages about the end times, the eschaton, the second coming of Christ.  We get to ask ourselves as the year ends and as a new one (beginning with the season of Advent) begins: To whom are we faithful?  Especially when the going gets tough, when life gets hard, frustrating, or maybe scary and unknown, do we keep our faith, hope, and trust in the God?  Maybe that's a good thing to think about this Advent!

Homily from 11-10-24

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  That was the lesson of last week's Gospel reading when Jesus gave us the greatest commandments.  (Oh, and don't forget loving your neighbor as yourself!)  This week the tables turn a bit, as have the political realities in our governments.  Now we're asked to trust God entirely, no matter what the circumstance.  Trust that he will always provide for our every need.  Why would God do that?  Because God loves US with his whole heart, soul, mind, and strength!  Will you let him?

Homily from 11-3-24

It's National Vocations Awareness Week in the United States, and it's a good thing too!  We need to think about from where our next priests, brothers, sisters, and deacons will come.  In your house, do you talk about the lack of priests and the decreasing numbers of religious brothers and sisters?  Without priests especially, there will be no Eucharist!  But take the question a bit farther, and mix it with our Gospel reading today about the greatest commandments.  If we love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, we must also love our neighbors as ourselves.  What does that look like in your world?  Loving God more than anything else can be very tricky in today's world with so much competition for our time and energy.  And the polarization and division in our culture make it very easy not to love our neighbor as we should.  So how is God calling you to serve him today and in your life?

All Souls Day Homily 2024

Death does not have the final word.  We as Catholics, like anyone else in the world, mourn the loss of our friends and family members.  Grieving is a human thing to do - even Jesus mourned when Lazarus died!  But we also remember that St. Paul writes that our baptism is a death in itself; we who are baptized in Christ are baptized into his resurrection.  So while life on this earth will eventually end and with that comes sadness, we have a promise of a life everlasting thanks to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and his resurrection.  So we gather every All Souls Day to remember those who have died, to pray for them and the repose of their souls, and to pray for us who long to join them.  And we remember that the final word is not death's but rather Christ's, and his word is "Alleluia!"

All Saints Day Homily 2024

Many of us think All Saints Day is time to worship or pray to the saints.  Others think  there's no way we could ever be as holy and worthy of heaven as those saints were, so why bother trying?  But actually the Solemnity of All Saints is a time to examine the lives of all the saints, both those bearing the title Saint and those who also reside in heaven but who haven't been given the title, and ask ourselves what we can learn from their lives.  Every saint shows us the way to eternal life and provides an example of how to live here on earth in God-fearing ways.  Those ways boil down to two words that we don't usually like in today's culture: sacrifice and surrender.  If we sacrifice our lives for the sake of others' and surrender the things we want to the things Jesus wants for us, heaven's gates will surely be open to us when we arrive!