When Celebrating the Mass took Fr. Mike's Breath Away

In the first episode of the St. Wenceslaus Podcast, co-hosts Olivier Coutant and Emily Barker welcome pastor Fr. Mike Eckley and explain the podcast’s goal of sharing parishioners’ stories to foster connection in a large parish. Fr. Mike recounts 35 years of priestly assignments alongside teaching and coaching, and how classroom experience shaped his preaching. He shares his vocation rooted in a lifelong draw to the Eucharist, including signing up for a weekly holy hour in the middle of the night as a teenager and receiving affirmation of his vocation in seminary. He describes a moment of experiencing the physical presence of Jesus when exhausted from priestly ministry, and a powerful Mass celebrated at the tomb of Jesus in the Holy Land.