The Emmaus Pastorate’s Podcast

Come, Holy Spirit!  Yes, indeed we need the Holy Spirit, perhaps now more than ever!  Pentecost celebrates the birthday of the Church, the unofficial end of Christ's work on earth and the simultaneous beginning of people's work on earth.  The Archdiocese of Dubuque is also undergoing long-term pastoral planning, considering how to best be the Church in northeast Iowa in this modern era.  As we do...

See.  Judge.  Act.  These three steps have been used by saints and martyrs for centuries to discern the will of God and the direction he desired for their lives.  On the Vigil of Pentecost, 15 students of the Emmaus Pastorate were confirmed by Archbishop Thomas Zinkula.  He reminded them and all of us that the Church, that Jesus, needs us to be active in today's world and that as Christians we are...

Christian living and sacrifice go hand-in-hand.  To have one, you must have the other to be true.  One can't be a Christian and not live a life of sacrifice for God.  To live a life sacrificing for your faith is to be a Christian.  But we don't like sacrificing.  The concept is sometimes even foreign to us!  But as Jesus ascends into heaven this Sunday, we're left on earth with the question: what...

Peace!

New.  Change.  We tend to dislike these words because they involve something different than our status quo.  They sometimes also require us to put down our own ideals, let go of our own desires, and allow something different to happen within us.  In today's Gospel, Jesus gives a "new" commandment - that for Jews wasn't actually new at all - which requires people wanting to follow him to do new and...

To whom do you listen?  That's the question as we mark the Fourth Sunday of Easter, which is often called Good Shepherd Sunday.  Certainly we listen to our moms - or we should anyway!  With the election of a new Holy Father, hopefully we're listening to him as well.  But Jesus is the Good Shepherd, to whom we should listen always.  In 2025, with all the news and social outlets surrounding us, to w...

Better and better!  That's what Jesus makes us when we come to receive him in the Eucharist.  Whether it's our first time or maybe we've received him faithfully for 50+ years, every time we receive Jesus' Body and Blood, we are made better and better disciples.   Congratulations to all of our First Communicants!  We are very proud of you and wish you many, many blessings!

Miracles happen when people are unified in the Lord.  Take St. John, stranded on the island of Patmos, for example.  Even in that banishment, he still received the overwhelming message from Jesus to "be not afraid."  Take another example from the Upper Room.  Even as the disciples were terrified when Jesus appeared despite the door being locked, Jesus said, "Peace be with you."  Miracles! But then...

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...

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...

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...

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 b...

Are you sleeping!?  There's no napping in the Garden!  Stay awake, and pray.  Pray that you may not undergo the test, and pray to relieve someone else's test!

God is trying to do something new in you.  Will you let him?

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 Mar...

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 Wed...

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 someon...

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 landowne...

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 th...

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 a...

Fr. Marvin Bries celebrated Mass on the First Sunday of Lent as Fr. John recovers and continues his cardiac rehab.  In his homily, Fr. Bries reminds us of the power of the holy name of Jesus.  Whenever you're in trouble, simply think, whisper, or shout his name, and all your troubles will abate!

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 ou...

As we mark the beginning of Lent, let us take time to consider the ways in which we'll tend the ground in our hearts through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  In this homily, Deacon Paul mentions the Rice Bowl program offered by Catholic Relief Services.  If you'd like to participate, visit one of our parishes or one near you to receive a Rice Bowl and bring back to church after Lent.

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, mos...

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...