Road To Emmaus

THE ROAD TO EMMAUS: A Spiritual Journey from Advent to Lent to Easter to Advent

This Prayer after Communion for the 11^th week of Ordinary Time culminates the reason for every season. The Catechetical theme is “Who do you say that I AM?” Our parish wanted to go a step further, “Who do people say You are?”

The Liturgical Committee of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Berlin, NJ, wanted to respond to this question for all our parishioners on a major scale, not just planning for an event or a season, but an ongoing three-year journey. We wanted to make this ongoing journey come alive, so we met and reviewed what has been happening in our prayer and worship life at OLMC. The major call of this committee has been to enliven the prayer and worship life of our parish. In attempting to respond to this call, we believe that our theme “Road to Emmaus” assists us in accomplishing this ministry. Through Music, Art & Environment, Preaching and Teaching “Faith in Action”, we want to “recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread.” This spiritual awareness and discovery leads us to build, to serve and to evangelize what we believe on our journey with others.

For the three years we will journey to Emmaus by building and following Jesus’ kingdom on earth in three ways:

• Year I: Recognizing Jesus in the Eucharist
• Year II: Building God’s Kingdom on Earth
• Year III: Come, Follow Me! (Evangelization)

This three-fold journey to Emmaus continues to help each parishioner recognize Jesus by fully celebrating the Eucharist, supporting each individual parishioner on his/her journey and bringing Jesus’ message to the community in all that we do in His name. We enter into our third year…

Dec. 1: 7:00 pm - First night, the presentation will center on the Road to Emmaus as a paradigm of Church. Flowing from that consideration we will look at the priestly, prophetic, royal mission of the laity, emphasizing the church and the vocation and mission of the laity.
Dec. 2: 7:00 pm - Second night, the presentation will turn to a Salesian theme and speak on the virtue of gentleness as our way of being parish community, emphasizing the importance of not only what we do but how we do it.
Dec. 3: 6:00 pm - ADVENT PENANCE SERVICE. (Following Adoration, Novena and Benediction). Third night, we will explore the Salesian understanding of the virtue of humility, emphasizing the importance of claiming our gifts with grateful hearts and lifting up the gifts of others; again, emphasizing the importance of using our gifts in the parish community.