Spirit Juice is proud to present Reel Homilies from Father Tim Anastos, associate chaplain of the St. John Paul II Newman Center at the University of Illinois-Chicago. In these minute-long reflections, Father Tim will unpack the Sunday Gospel readings through the lenses of Church tradition, pop culture, and self-improvement. We hope these reflections serve to inspire your own thoughts on the Gospel and bring you closer to Christ…as well as bring a smile to your face.
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Done or Half-Baked
So, the bottom line is that you are never a done muffin. You are always half-baked. In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells the scribe, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” He doesn’t say to the scribe, “You made it. You did it. Success.” He says, yeah, you’ve said all the right things, but still, you have some work to do. Still, I want to go deeper with you. This is the beautiful reality that Jesus…
Unique and Irrepeatable
Did you know that there are 108 billion people that ever existed? That is a lot. If I wanted to count from zero to 108 billion, that would take me 3,429 years. So it seems like it would be so much easier for God just to name us a generic name. So if God is talking to anyone, he would just say, hello, generic human beings. In the gospel, Jesus calls on Bartimaeus, saying that Bartimaeus is not one among…
The Right Ambition
Elon Musk, Simone Biles, Dwayne ‘The Rock, Johnson, Mulan, Tony Stark. What do all of these people have in common? Ambition. They have this drive to be great. In the gospel for this Sunday, James and John, the Sons of Thunder, have ambition. All they want to do is sit on Jesus’s right and left and be the most awesome. And the crazy thing is Jesus doesn’t take that away from them. Jesus…
Gate To Heaven
So, at the end of your life, you get to the gates of heaven, and the person guarding the gates of heaven, either St. Peter or Morgan Freeman, asks you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” And we could have so many answers, like ” because I’m awesome,” ” because I gave much money to the poor,” ” because I went to mass every Sunday,” or “I’m not Voldemort.” We can give many good answers…
The Supreme Gift
I don’t know if you’re like me, but every time I see a baby, I only want to hold and squeeze it because it’s so cute. Maybe that makes me weird. What this is called is the positive feedback loop. When we hold or care for an infant child, it releases oxytocin. It’s written in our biology that babies are cute. The gospel for this Sunday is intense, but it is all about the preciousness of children, and the Catholic…
Dump The Garbage
Do you know who the unsung heroes of our society are? Garbage men. They do everything that we do not want to do. Garbage men and women, we salute you. In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus speaks about Gehenna. Gehenna also means hell. But Jesus uses the word Gehenna because Gehenna was the area of Jerusalem that was the garbage dump, and Jews were not allowed to go there. Jesus is…
Keep It Simple
A couple of weeks ago, a student approached me after mass and told me, “Hey, Father, you’re homily today. It has many overly complicated words. Next time, make it simpler.” And then they left, and then I cried myself to sleep. A lot of the time, we overcomplicate things. All we have to do is make things simple. This is precisely what the apostles do in the gospel for this Sunday. Jesus told the…
Sacrifice For Jesus
Okay, so in the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus is not trying to be an economist. He’s not concerned about what happens to the S&P 500. He is not worried about how much Bitcoin to give to the poor. Jesus is talking about our sacrificial hearts. In the gospel, the rich provide some of their money, and the poor widow gives all she has. Jesus is not concerned with numbers. He’s concerned with our…