The Emmaus Pastorate’s Podcast

"I am the vine, and you are the branches.  Remain in me, and bear much fruit."  As with any crop, without the vine and proper care of watering and weeding, no branch would produce any grape for wine.  Remaining close to Christ sounds easy, but in the day and age it's anything but that!  Remaining close to Christ requires work on our part, and only after putting in the work will we bear much fruit.  So how's your connection this week?  How's your workload?

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we hear about how a good shepherd lays down his own wants, desires, even his own life for those of the his flock.  Such a shepherd is so loving that he knows the voice of each sheep, and they know his voice.  As we traverse through the often confusing messages we encounter today, Jesus asks us a question.  Who's your shepherd?  Who's voice are you hearing?

"Nobody likes a liar."  "We are what we eat."  St. John may as well have used these phrases in today's reading.  If we receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, then we should become the Body and Blood of Christ in our lives.  And if we don't, as St. John tells us, we are liars!  The First Communicants help Fr. John with his homily this week as they explore what it means to receive and live the Eucharist.

Easter is the season for saying "yes" in a culture that is constantly saying "no."  Like Doubting Thomas, we often find ourselves living in our own tombs, afraid of saying "yes" to the Good News around us, doubting that there really is hope and joy in this world.  But Divine Mercy Sunday and the season of Easter call us into something different, into a life of believing in those realities, even if we can't always see Christ or heaven with our own eyes.  We are an Easter people.  Alleluia is our song!  It's time to get out of the tomb!

Jesus comes into our lives through everyday ways, like friends who come to visit and in sharing a meal with someone.  Will you open the door and let him in?

Who is this God who loves us so much?  And why does he care?  He is Christ, our light!  It is he who created us, loves us, desires us to grow, and wants communion with us.

The day Jesus died, there were four deaths: Judas, the indignant thief, the repentant thief, and Jesus.  One hopeless, one heartless, heartless, one hopeful, and one holy.  What will our deaths say about us?  What will yours say about you?

What good is it if the bread is changed but I'm not?  That's the question Fr. John poses to us as we begin the sacred Triduum in 2021.  If the bread changes but we don't, what's the point?  Join us as we celebrate the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Emmaus Pastorate.  Visit our website for the schedule and other information: www.vibrantcatholic.com/live.

As we journey through holy week, the Emmaus Pastorate is happy to share the final four musical selections for your prayer and meditation.  This edition includes Shelter Me, a piece of comfort by Fr. Michael Joncas written in 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic; two pieces in honor of Holy Thursday: Peace, My Friends and Pange, Lingua, Gloriosi/Tantum Ergo; and finally Marty Haugen's Where Your Treasure Is.  We hope you have found these six music releases a helpful part of your Lenten journey.  Please visit our website, www.vibrantcatholic.com, to see our Holy Week and Easter celebration schedule.

Could you be humble enough to play a pivotal role and still be anonymous?  That's just what the woman did in today's Gospel.  As we hear the beginning of the Palm Sunday Passion Narrative, a nameless woman appears, breaks open an expensive jar of pungent, aromatic oil, and pours it on Jesus' head and body.   This act of foreshadowing is a big moment of the evening, but what significance does it hold for us?  Fr. John Haugen breaks it down for us.