Thank you for visiting our blog. We are the Emmanuel Community, North America – Roman Catholic International Public Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right. We are currently present in over 9 States reaching from East to West. Internationally we are present on every continent!
The Emmanuel Community is a Catholic lay international community that brings together faithful that share a common call and commit themselves to actively live their faith in their daily lives thus fulfilling their call as the first believers did who had “only one heart and one soul!” (Acts 4:32)
The Emmanuel community is for men women of all walks of life: from ordinary, professional and social life, of different classes, ages and nationalities. We are a community made up of different vocations: married couples, single men and women, youth, priests and lay men and women consecrated in celibacy. In sharing this common call of “one heart and soul”, the members, no matter their vocation, form a strong bond and unity that is lived and witnessed to others in the joy and compassion of living a life centered on Jesus Christ.
This unity is expressed in a particular fraternal life through weekly gatherings known as households as well as monthly meetings and national meetings. These allow brothers and sisters to come together to reinvigorate their call to serve the Lord, the Church and one another. The unity is also manifested in the various services of compassion and evangelization held both locally and nationally.
The Emmanuel community’s foundation is based upon three main pillars. They are Adoration, Compassion and Evangelization.
Adoration
Adoration is also where we meet a personal God who gives His life, and fulfils the desire of our heart, through His love and His forgiveness. Through the Eucharist, one is invited to live the Paschal Mystery (death and resurrection of Christ). Eucharistic adoration is first a prayer of Christ and then of the Church. Thus, this proximity to Jesus leads us to intercede in prayer for the whole world.
Compassion
As Adoration is lived day after day it leads us to live and share Christ’s compassion towards all men : such is the compassion for those “who are dying of hunger, materially and spiritually” (Statutes – Preamble, I). This is expressed very concretely in the conduct of the members of the Community and through the various community activities. It is the call to live authentic charity. Jesus offers Himself to the poor man and those who suffer. (cf. Mt 25, 40). However, it is not only a question of easing poverty and material miseries.
Adoration also leads the members of Emmanuel to realize that the biggest misery, the deepest suffering, is when man does not know God and is separated from Him through sin. This knowledge unites them to the compassion of Jesus which found its ultimate expression on the Cross : “God so loved the world and he gave his only Son so that the world is saved by him” (Jn 3, 16-17). Jesus’ true compassion is to save all men through God the Father. To become a follower of Jesus whose name is Emmanuel (God with us), means to burn with the desire to take part in his mission with Him so that all people may be saved.
Evangelization
Adoration and Compassion thus lead to evangelization, which is the ultimate reason why the Emmanuel Community exists. Evangelization is first and foremost the participation in the announcing of the Gospel, following Christ in the Church. The Good News is addressed to every person of good will in the respect and freedom of his conscience. This evangelization, for the members of Emmanuel, is comprised of various aspects and is directed in a particular way towards those who do not know God or who have moved away from Him:
1. Firstly, evangelization is witnessed in the individual actions and inner circles of each community member. Each member of the community is a missionary in his daily life; amongst his family, friends, co-workers and even those strangers that happen to cross their path.
2. Secondly, it is expressed by the individual commitment of each member to the activities of their local parish as well as to the universal Church by being faithful to Church teachings and seeking to grow in knowledge and faith.
3. Thirdly, it encompasses the participation of each member in the apostolic activities of the Community which aim to fulfill the needs of ever growing and new situations in social, economic, political and cultural realities: i.e. evangelization of families, couples, youth, children as well as street evangelization and active evangelization in the work place.
4. Finally, it is incarnated in the missions entrusted explicitly by the Church to the Community.
If you would like to discover more about us, you can visit our international website at http://en.emmanuel.info/