Emmaus this Thurs., 10/25 -- Symbolism in the Mass

Hello brothers and sisters,

This Thursday at Emmaus we will be having Deacon Corky Hecht speaking with us about the symbolism in the Mass as well as Tradition in the Mass.  Deacon Corky came and spoke with us recently about the Liturgy of the Hours and it was a great talk.  We are looking forward to him coming and shedding more light on the Mass for us, to show us its richness, depth, and history.  We hope you will be able to join us.  We will be in the Parish Family Center, Room A (Music Room) at 7pm, Rosary at 6:30pm if you can make it.  See you then!

God Bless,

Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus This Thursday, 10/18, Confession and Mass

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This Thursday, October 18, we will have the opportunity to celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist with Mass and Confession. This week we will be at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, which is located down town at 121 E. Duval Street, Jax, FL 32202. Parking is either located either in the back of the church or accross the street in a small parking lot. Confession and Rosary will start at 6:15pm and Mass will start at 6:45pm.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus this Thurs., 10/11

Hello brothers and sisters,

This Thursday at Emmaus we will have our good friend Jessica Munoz speaking with us about what she learned at the Catholic Medical Conference she recently took part in.  Come and learn about the ethical challenges and other important topics the Catholic medical community is discussing.  We will be in the Parish Family Center Room 2A (upstairs), aka the music room, at 7pm.  We will be praying the Rosary at 6:30pm if you can join us.

Also, this Thurs. begins the "Year of Faith" which Pope Benedict XVI has proclaimed.  Let's "open wide the door of faith" this year and renew our efforts to learn the faith and evangelize our brothers and sisters.  The pope, in his apostolic letter on the Year of Faith, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xvi_motu-proprio_20111011_porta-fidei_en.html, has asked us especially to read and study the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which, as Pope John Paul II said, "this catechism will make a very important contribution to that work of renewing the whole life of the Church... I declare it to be a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion and a sure norm for teaching the faith."  Maybe also consider inviting someone new to Emmaus, or the Young Adult Retreat.

God Bless,

The Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus this Thursday, October 4 - Sisters of the Home of the Mother

At Emmaus this Thursday we will be having the Sisters of the Home of the Mother speak to us about our faith. In the past they've given a great witness for us and will be doing so again. Please Join us in the Family Life Center in the Music room (2nd floor) at Assumption Catholic Church. It will start at 7pm and Rosary at 6:30 if you wish to join us.

Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus This Thurs., 9/27 -- Media

Hello fellow Emmaus-ers,

This week at Emmaus we will have Brian Shields speaking with us about media (television, internet, cell phones, etc.) and how it influences our lives.  Brian is the founder and president of Lumen Entertainment.  You can view their website at www.lumen.tv to find out more about them.  We will be meeting in the Parish Family Center, Room 2A (the music room) at 7pm with Rosary at 6:30pm if you would like to join us.  See you then!

God Bless,

The Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus This Thursday - Confession and Mass

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Join us and our Spiritual Director, Fr Ed Murphy, this Thursday, September 20, at Assumption Catholic Church for Confession and Mass. Rosary and Confession will start at 6:15pm and Mass will start at 6:45pm. After Mass, we will be continue our fellowship with dinner. Location will be determined later. We will look forward to seeing you there.

Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus This Thurs., 9/13 -- Volleyball!

Hello brothers and sisters in Christ,

This Thurday at Emmaus we will be playing volleyball outside behind the gym (there is basketball practice in the gym).  Since it is outside we will begin at 6:30pm to take advantage of a little more daylight, and pray the Rosary at 6pm.  Feel free to bring that co-worker or friend you have been thinking of inviting to Emmaus!  Hope to see you all there.  Get your game on!

In JMJ,

The Emmaus Core Team

PS- It looks like the weather will be nice on Thurs.  :)

Emmaus This Thurs., 9/6

Hello brothers and sisters in Christ,

This Thursday at Emmaus we will have Deacon Dale Tatum of Assumption with us to give us his witness of his spiritual journey through life and how that led him to the diaconate.  Deacon has been very supportive of Emmaus and says he loves giving his witness, so this should be a very engaging talk.  Deacon Tatum is also the one who usually leads the Holy Hour on Tues. nights at 7pm in the church, where we pray the Liturgy of the Hours, which we learned about a couple of weeks ago.  Looking forward to seeing you all there this Thurs. at 7pm in the Family Center, 2nd floor, room 2A (Music Room).  We will, as always, be praying the Rosary at 6:30pm if you would like to join us.

In JMJ,

The Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus This Thursday - Being Catholic in the Health Care Industry

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This Thursday, August 30, we will be having Jessica Munoz, a Physician Assistant, talking to us about being a Catholic in the health care industry and many of the challenges faced. It will be a great opportunity to hear about some ways to living out ones faith in the work force.  We will be meeting in Kohl's Hall at Assumption Catholic Church at 7pm with the Rosary starting at 6:30pm.

Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus This Thursday Aug 23 Liturgy of the Hours

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

This Thursday, August 23, we have a real treat. Deacon Lowell Hechet, from Assumption Catholic Church, will be speaking to us about the Liturgy of the Hours. This will be a great opportunity for us. We will be meeting in Kohl's Hall at Assumption Catholic Church at 7pm. Please feel free to join us for the Rosary at 6:30pm.

Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus This Thurs., 8/16 -- Papal Infallibility and the Assumption

Hello brothers and sisters in Christ,

This Thursday at Emmaus we will have Dan Mull come and speak with us on two related topics.  He will begin with the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, as established at the First Vatical Council, and then segue into the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (appropriate for the day after we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption!), which was proclaimed infallibly by Pope Pius XII in 1950.  Dan has a Master's in Theology from Ave Maria University and he teaches religion at Bishop Snyder High School.  He has spoken with us in the past and always done a great job, so don't miss it! :) We will be meeting in Kohl's Hall at 7pm, 6:30pm if you would like to pray the Rosary with us.

In JMJ,

The Emmaus Core Team

This Thursday 8/9 - Confession and Mass

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This Thursday, August 9, we will be celebrating Mass with Fr Dan Nelson, Parochial Vicar at St Catherine's. Mass will be held at Assumption Catholic Church starting at 6:45pm. Confession and Rosary will be from 6:15pm to 6:45pm. Hope to see you there.

Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus This Thurs., 8/2

Hello brothers and sisters in Christ,

This Thurs. at Emmaus we will be having Gerald Lamb come and speak with us about how the Church has dealt with persecution throughout its history.  Gerald has a passion for history and our faith, so this should prove to be a great discussion!  It is also very timely in that it relates to what Holy Mother Church is encountering in our culture today.  The good news is that, even though our Church has undergone persecutions, after 2000 years she still remains.  Though empires have risen and fallen, the Church stands firm because she stands on unchanging (and unchangeable) truth.  Please join us at 7pm in the music room of the Family Life Center/gym.  Some of us will be praying the Rosary at 6:30pm if you want to join us.

God Bless,

The Emmaus Core Team

Next Emmaus Event 7/26 -- Advancing in the Spiritual Life

Good evening brothers and sisters:
     Be sure to join us this Thursday, July 26 at 6:30pm in Kohls Hall to pray the Most Holy Rosary and to find out more on how to advance in growth in the spiritual life. We are honored to have Fr. Jason Trull, pastor at Resurrection Catholic Church and an excellent Homilist, join us and offer us his insights and advice.

     We look forward to seeing to you!

In Him,
Emmaus Core Team

O Christ Jesus, I acknowledge You King of the Universe. All that has been created has been made for You. Exercise upon me all Your rights. I renew my baptismal promises renouncing Satan and all his works and pomps. I promise to lead a good Christian life and to do all in my power to procure the triumph of the rights of God and Your Church. Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You my poor actions in order to obtain that all hearts may acknowledge Your sacred royalty and that thus the reign of Your peace may be established throughout the universe. Amen.

Sacred Space: Daily Prayer

Begin the prayer: http://www.sacredspace.ie/daily-prayer

Something to think and pray about this week

We have to overcome the idea that the body is irrelevant to prayer. In fact our souls express themselves through our bodies. We are spirit enfleshed. Monks know this: their desire is for God, and they pray with their bodies when they stand and sit and sing the psalms each day.

They also believe that bodily work, with the intention of serving God, is prayer. Ignatius of Loyola would enthusiastically agree. Augustine remarks that those who sing, pray twice. We bow our bodies as a sign of adoration. We join our hands and bless our bodies with the sign of the Cross. We receive the host at communion and eat it. We go on pilgrimage, which is a bodily prayer, with its abandonment of creature comforts: we focus toward the goal of the pilgrimage with our bodies, as well as our hearts. Truly the body prays, because it is as human persons, body and soul, and not as angels, that we meet our God. You won’t hear God saying: ‘Now, when you pray, please leave your body behind you. I’m interested only in your soul!’

My mother had a stroke in her mid-seventies and died four years later. I was there that morning, with a friend, when her breathing began to grow more drawn out. She would breathe out, and after an impossibly long pause she breathed in again. Finally she breathed out, and we waited, transfixed, for her to breathe in again. Not daring to breathe ourselves, we waited five, ten, twenty, thirty seconds, a minute … But no breath came. She was gone.

For those who love God, their final breath, whether conscious or not, matches the prayer of Jesus when he says: ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’ (Luke 23:46). His Father had been the desire of his whole being, body and soul, throughout his life, even when he was busy or sleeping. The Father is our desire too. Concentration of mind may lapse during my time of prayer, but my body is still in the place of prayer. If someone asked me what I was doing, I’d say, ‘I just want God, and this is the best I can do to show it.’

http://www.sacredspace.ie/

An Online Retreat: A 34 week retreat for Everyday Life

Welcome to an experience of God's Grace in the midst of our busy lives.

Begin the retreat with Week 1, at any time, and follow the guides and resources provided each week.

Be open and trust in a God who is not outdone in generosity.

Go here: http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/cmo-retreat.html 

 

Are We Confident in Our Relationship with God and His Great Love for Us?

Scripture:
Isaiah 38: 1-6, 21-22, 7-8
Matthew 12: 1-8

Reflection:
In today's first reading, when Hezekiah, the King of Judah, was told to put his house in order because he was dying, he prayed, "O Lord, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!"

Now that's a remarkable prayer!  I wonder if, when I am faced with my death, I will be able to offer a similar prayer with so much conviction.   I fear my awareness of my many faults and sins would cause me to choke on those words.  It's true that Hezekiah is remembered as one of the truly great kings of Israel because of his religious reforms and his compassionate administration of justice, but I'm sure he was subject to many of the same failures as most of us.  Yet, when faced with his death, he prayed so confidently.  Does he know something many of us don't? 
Pair Hezekiah's confident attitude with the story in today's Gospel.  The disciples of Jesus were travelling through a field of grain on the Sabbath and, being hungry, they picked the heads of the grain to eat.  At the time of Jesus it was against the law to travel or pick the heads of grain on the Sabbath.  They should have been in their homes keeping the Sabbath holy.  It's surely no surprise that the Pharisees, guardians of religious practice, loudly criticized such irreligious behavior.  Do the disciples know something that the Pharisees don't?

Jesus speaks up and defends the behavior of the disciples.  He reminds the Pharisees of some of the things David and his followers did in violation of Sabbath law.  Jesus concludes that the Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Both the confident prayer of Hezekiah and the teaching of Jesus about the Sabbath remind us that God is always on our side and that religious practice is intended to deepen our experience of God's love for us, not create fear and insecurity about God's compassionate care for us.  Hezekiah surely knew his many faults but was convinced that God's great love for him would focus on his efforts to be faithful to God.    The disciples knew they were not fulfilling Sabbath law but they were confident in Jesus' teaching that their well-being was more important than merely fulfilling the law.

What about us?  Do we understand that God is more interested in the good things we do than in the bad?  Are we confident in our relationship with God and His great love for us.  Today we pray that God will help us trust in His love for us.
 
Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director the Development Office for Holy Cross Province  and is stationed at Immaculate Conception Community  in Chicago.

Source: http://www.passionist.org/reflection/daily

Daily Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/072012.cfm 

Emmaus on 7/19 -- Testimony

Be sure to join us Thursday, July 19 as we pray the Most Holy Rosary at 6:30pm and start our session at 7pm. The meeting will take place at Kohl's Hall and Jennifer Schmitz, who led Emmaus for nearly a decade, will be talking with us and giving her testimony on her walk with Christ.

Don't miss out! Bring a friend or two and join us for faith and friendship!

Convivially in the Trinity,
Emmaus Core Team

The Canticle of Mary (Luke 1). And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

47 my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

48 For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;

behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.

49 The Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

50 His mercy is from age to age

to those who fear him.

51 He has shown might with his arm,

dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.

52 He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones

but lifted up the lowly.

53 The hungry he has filled with good things;

the rich he has sent away empty.

54 He has helped Israel his servant,

remembering his mercy,

55 according to his promise to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Emmaus This ThurdayJuly 12 - Confession and Mass

This Thursday, July 12, join us for the celebration of the most Holy Eucharist in the Mass with our Spiritual Director Fr Ed Murphy at Assumption Catholic Church. Confession and Rosary will start at 6:15 with Mass following at 6:45. Hope to see you there.

Emmaus Core Team

Emmaus Thursday - July 5

This Thursday we will be having Jessica Munoz speak to us about her real recent trip to the Holy Land. It will be a great opportunity to hear about many of the spots we've only read about in the Bible. We will be meeting in the Music Room, which is located on the 2nd floor of the Family Life Center/Gym at Assumption Catholic Church. Rosary is at 6:30pm and the meeting at 7pm.