Ebenezer Scrooge, Severus Snape, Loki, The Grinch. What do they all have in common? They are suspicious of joy. In the gospel for this Sunday, we have the story of the famous prodigal son. The older son is suspicious of joy. He hears the party for the younger son, and instead of going out, he is suspicious of the joy happening. If they are being rejoiced over, then he must be less loved. Because the older son is suspicious…

So it’s about time we talked about Michael Corleone. In the second “Godfather,” Michael Corleone has all of the opportunities, so many second chances, to step away from the violence of the mob. But in all those second chances, he decides to choose everything that is not good. In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus is giving us hope, but He’s also warning us. Jesus is always giving us second chances. If we turn back to…

Spiritual nostalgia. It is so real. It is wanting to experience your feelings again during that amazing God moment. It’s wanting to experience again that feeling you had when the Cubs won the World Series. In the gospel for the Sunday, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain and reveals his glory. They feel they experience the realness of Jesus’ divinity, but then they go down the hill, and Jesus seems to have…

So wouldn’t it be easier if Juliet forced Romeo to love him? Then, none of that heartbreak would’ve happened. So what if Jim from “The Office” forced Pam to love him in the first season? Then, none of that drama or heartbreak would’ve happened. The answer is no. Because forced love is not love. In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus is tempted by Satan to throw himself down, to reveal his glory, to reveal his divinity to the…

Okay, so have you ever seen a Samoan war chant? One of the most intimidating things you will ever see in your life. The war chant is taunting the other team, taunting the enemy, saying, we’re not afraid of you. There’s nothing about you that makes us scared. We are confident. We are not scared of you at all. This is precisely what St. Paul is doing in the second reading for this Sunday. He is saying directly to death…

Remember when Hiccup loses his leg in “How to Train Your Dragon”? It’s an emotional rollercoaster. The love that Hiccup has for his family and Toothless leads to him sacrificing one of his legs. Hiccup’s love costs something, and the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus, is very clear: it is easy to love when it’s easy to love, but real, true, authentic, Christ-centered love costs something. Are we just loving Jesus when it’s easy when…

I am awful at chess. Like, bad. But the other thing is I try to protect all of the chess pieces on the board, which means I don’t honestly try to protect my king. This is the only thing that you need to win the game. And if you don’t have the king, you lose. Jesus Christ is trying to get this across in the gospel today. You have everything if you have Jesus and nothing else in your life. But if you don’t have Jesus, if you don’t have the king…

My favorite word in the gospel for this Sunday is the conjunction “but.” I love the part where the apostles say to Jesus, “Jesus, we have worked all night. We have caught nothing. But at your command, we will lower the nets.” The word “but” is so powerful because it shows the relationship with Jesus. A lot of the time, we don’t use that word. All we ask is the question, “Why?” “Jesus, why am I suffering like this?” “Why would…