The Emmaus Pastorate’s Podcast

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!

What we celebrate on Easter Sunday - an empty tomb full of nothing - is strange.  The way we Christians react to the world in 2022 is strange.  What Jesus did on Easter was also very strange!  We are an Easter people, and "alleluia!" is our song!  Why?  Because there is nothing that can overshadow that strange moment so long ago.  We celebrate even today - every Sunday of the year and for 50 straight days during Eastertide.  In every moment of life, thru every death, every victory, every sickness, and everything in between - we are an Easter people, so "alleluia!" is our song!

We heard all nine readings at this year's Easter Vigil.  From Creation thru the Exodus clear to Isaiah and St. Paul we heard the whole story of salvation.  And it's a long story because we, God's chosen people, are a little hardheaded!  Sometimes it takes awhile for us to fall into God's embrace and allow him to love us.  But like a parent wrestling a 2-year-old, sometimes we break away.  Yet God kept on loving us and is still loving us today, as he does all those joining the church on this holy night!

Can you love like that?  Grab a cross or a crucifix.  Pray for a few moments.  Imagine what Jesus experienced that day in Jerusalem and on Calvary.  It was all for love.  Can you love like that?

We are all one event away from being a different person.  And on Holy Thursday, two events occurred that established two very important sacraments: Holy Orders and Eucharist.  The question is this: Are we different persons because of these?  The Eucharist, the sacrament is unity, is the pinnacle of Catholic life, and yet so many people willingly miss Mass!  Are you a different person because of the Eucharist?  Are you one event away from being a different person, namely Jesus?

We're 2,022 years into this Christianity thing.  Have we learned ANYTHING?!  Lord, have mercy!

So where are you in the story?  Jesus is meet with the woman caught in adultery, and the Scribes and Pharisees are ready to stone her.  What's in your hand?  Where are you in the story?  More to the point, what's Jesus doing new in your life?

Fr. John reflects on the Magnificat in light of the war in Ukraine during the ecumenical prayer service for peace held at St. Mary Parish on March 27.