The Emmaus Pastorate’s Podcast

What difference does the empty tomb make?  Flowers are nice, but what's it all about?  It's about transformation, about change, and that's one thing people hate the most!  God always accepts us where we are on our own spiritual journeys, but he never wants to leave us there.  He always wants to draw us closer to him.  So let's ask ourselves if we're more than Jesus than this time last year.  This year, let us dare to be more like h...

Why do we do this?  Why do we gather late at night to celebrate a liturgy more different than any other?  Well it's not for doctrine or dogma.  Christ didn't come to set church teachings or a catechism, though he did do that.  No, we come instead to share our faith.  We come to share the faith that Christ brought us and the Good News is carries because Jesus desires that every person enter eternal life.  But to share the faith we p...

The crucifying has continued.  In every sin we commit, every time the innocent suffer, Jesus' crucifixion continues.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  It can stop with us.

Beginning this episode is the Responsorial Psalm for Good Friday, a setting of Psalm 31 by John Michael Talbot titled Father, I Put My Life in Your Hands.  It was cantored by Tony Tjaden.  Following Fr. John's homily is Tree of Life by Marty Haugen.  Both are...

Jesus gives us a model to follow.  It's about loving each other and becoming His Body and Blood.  It's a model to follow that will call us to a life deeper than we can imagine.  It's a model that will lead us to heaven on earth.

Preceding this episode is Curtis Stephan's Bread of Angels, and following Fr. John's homily is Craig Larson's arrangement of How Beautiful by Twila Paris.  Both are sung by the combined ensembles of the Emm...

The Emmaus Pastorate is happy to provide our listeners with an extra bonus episode this week!  As we near the end of March, which is Problem Gambling Addiction Awareness Month, we share an episode from Road to Purity’s podcast, Tell Them for Me.  Titled Delving Deep: Healing Addiction by Tracing its Roots and Mending Wounds, this is excellent food for thought as we continue our journey through March and the season of Lent!  The ful...

Why can't we just come to our senses?!  The prodigal son did!  Why can't we?  God will love and forgive us no matter what sins we commit so long as we're repentant.  So come home, repent, and enjoy the party!

We thank Fr. Carl Ries for celebrating Mass for us and preaching this weekend.  Fr. Carl filled in for Fr. John as he continues his recovery from a recent heart attack.  Please join us on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 for confessio...

Forgive everyone everything.  Plain and simple.  Not always easy, but plain and simple!  It's sometimes hard to let go of grudges, fears, resentments, and hurts.  But if we want the reward of a life well lived (aka heaven), we need to forgive others and ourselves of the sins we all commit.  And when we find it hard, God is always there to help us!  We can never say that we can never forgive someone.  We can always be forgiven and c...

Fr. Dustin Vu visited St. Joseph Parish in Elkader this weekend as Fr. John continues his recovery.  Thank you for your ministry, Fr. Vu!

In this homily, Fr. Vu gives us the landowner's quarrel.  Are we getting better?  Or are we getting worse?  If we're not getting better, then we are useless, perhaps even worse.  Maybe we take up space and resources from others!  Come judgement day, the landowner - aka God - will make his decisio...

Tend the ground.  Actually, tend the holy ground.  Sometimes we forget that the ground, the places on which we stand, are holy.  Sure, churches, cemeteries, maybe other "holy" places are holy.  But if God is everywhere, if God dwells in us all day long, then everywhere we go is a holy place.  And if that's true, we have a lot of ground to tend!  Let's let God into our lives by spreading some of the fertilizer and tending our seeds!

To what do you listen?  On what or whom are you focused?  As we continue the journey of Lent, we continue thinking about the ways we're tending the ground in our hearts, how we are (or aren't) making good, fertile places for growth.  And this week after hearing the story of the Transfiguration, we can ask ourselves whether or not we're listening to God's voice or something or someone else.  Just as Jesus was transfigured on the mou...

Tend the Ground.  What does it mean to tend the ground?  Farming is more than just planting and harvesting.  The field works also needs to be done.  The ground itself needs tending.  And so it is with our hearts.  It's so easy to take the easy road, to go through the motions, to keep a stony heart.  But this Lent, hopefully we aim for something more.  Hopefully we're ready to tend the ground in our hearts so they're ready for God t...

The gift of sight is wonderful and makes life very enjoyable for those who possess it.  But many things we encounter everyday have the ability to cloud our vision.  It could be bad weather, poor eyesight, dirty glasses, or someone poking us.  And our spiritual lives have eyes that long to see, too, eyes that long to see with the eyes of faith.  And that sight can be clouded by many things too, mostly sin.  And sin is everywhere in ...

Let's put church teaching aside for just a minute.  When Jesus spoke, did he actually mean what he said?  And if so, what did he really mean?  Whether it makes us comfortable or not, many of the things Jesus said were (and still are) counter-cultural, radically different than the norm.  And those same things should shake us even today.  If they don't, we need to ask ourselves if Jesus really meant what he said and what those words ...

In his time on earth, Jesus had a penchant for calling some peculiar people to follow him.  These people - like Simeon and Andrew, two average fishermen - didn't have a stellar resume or unique skills.  They were just ordinary people.  But still they were called by name to join Jesus and his ministry.  They didn't have a schedule or agenda, no plans or schematics for what lay ahead.  They simply had to trust Jesus, especially when ...