Emmaus Blog

Easter Sunday 2026: April 5th.: "Do not be afraid, return to your Galilee and there you will see me — again and again." It seems so easy for us to proclaim the Resurrection. After all, we've known the story for as long as we've known about Jesus. We can look at the crucifix because we know it's just the horrific prelude to the best news in the world. The women who went to the tomb on that third day had no idea about an ending to Jesus' story beyond what they had seen. They could not erase the memory of the dying Jesus crying out in the darkness. Earth shook, the hidden Holy of Holies was exposed, ghosts wandered the earth and the guards trembled. These women had followed Jesus' friends to the tomb. They watched the stone seal at the end of the story and kept vigil there until the Sabbath. As the women returned on the third day, the Earth quaked again. Now, in place of a sealed tomb, they saw an angel sweep in, roll away the stone and sit atop it. As the gu...

Good Friday, April 3, 2026: Father Richard offers a guided meditation, inviting listeners to be present with Jesus at the crucifixion:   Meditation: Picture yourself before the crucified Jesus; recognize that he became what you fear: nakedness, exposure, vulnerability, and failure. He became sin to free you from sin: " He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. "(2 Corinthians 5:21).   He became what we do to one another in order to free us from the lie of punishing and scapegoating each other.  He became the crucified so we would stop crucifying.  He refused to transmit his pain onto others. Richard imagines Jesus speaking these words to us, offering God’s love and forgiveness: My beloved, I am your self. I am your beauty. I am your goodness, which you are destroying.  I am what you do to what you should love. I am what you are afraid of: your deepest and best and most naked self—your soul....

Wednesday, April 1, 2026:  Announcement from Victoria:  our upcoming Retreat on April 25th

Tuesday, March 31, 2026:  Encountering The Dark Night Of The Soul Reflection by Mike Boucher of Spiritus Christi A few weeks ago after mass, I sat down with a man who was going through a very difficult time. He’s currently without a place to live, his significant other is in the hospital and he had no one to really turn to. In the midst of our conversation he tearfully talked about how he was just trying to be faithful to God and all these bad things kept happening. He wondered aloud, “What am I doing wrong?” His sentiment is one that I have heard before (and sometimes even felt). It’s the lament expressed in our first reading from Isaiah 49 where the writer says that “I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength…” The passage starts on a more positive note when the writer says that, “The LORD called me from birth, from my mother’s womb God gave me my name.” But then as things progress, we see that even though the prophet was called by God there wer...

 Sunday, March 29, 2025:  REFLECTION FOR Palm Sunday by Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv, Pax Christi USA Bishop President Matthew 21:1-11 (37)  21  When they got close to Jerusalem and arrived Most of the crowd spread their outer garments on the road, while others were cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9  Moreover, the crowds going ahead of him and those following him kept shouting: “Save, we pray, the Son of David!i Blessed is the one who comes in Jehovah’s name!j Save him, we pray, in the heights above!” 10  And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying: “Who is this?” 11  The crowds kept saying: “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazʹa·reth of Galʹi·lee!” 12  Jesus entered the temple and threw out all those selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.m 13  And he said to them: “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of pray...

Saturday, March 28, 2026: All Over America NO KINGS Day March and Demonstration TODAY! Please remember: No Kings Demonstration today -- all over our country.. Saturday, March 28, 2026: Denise will be at the north end of the circle in front of Santa Rosa JC starting at 2:30. Just look for Denise and her florescent orange hat!  Let's march together or meet up at Courthouse Square! Just say NO to Kings! From wherever you are, please join your local march. We need millions of people to join us.And invite your family and friends to join too! "Rabbit Is Up to Tricks" by Joy Harjo In a world long before this one, there was enough for  everyone, Until somebody got out of line. We heard it was Rabbit, fooling around with clay and the  wind. Everybody was tired of his tricks and no one would play  with him; He was lonely in this world. So Rabbit thought to make a person. And when he blew into the mouth of that crude figure to see What would happen, The clay man stood up. Rabbi...