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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Invite Jesus to Your Home
Zacchaeus, who is a tax collector. He is a sinner, he is not a good guy at all. He invites Jesus into his home, and Zacchaeus is changed forever. And so a great question is have we ever invited Jesus into our home? Guess what? As Catholics, we have something even better. Whenever we receive the Eucharist, we invite…
Be Brutally Honest with Jesus
Let’s talk about Emmett from the Lego movie. He thinks that everything is awesome. Yet, he is actually living a lie and he can’t truly be happy until he is honest with himself and honest about his situation. Right, come on, let’s be honest. And so in the same thing with the gospel today, here is the tax collector who is brutally…
God is a Just God
The Gospel for this Sunday is all about the judge. You know who is a bad judge? Scarecrow from “The Dark Knight Rises.” Scarecrow is one of the villains who presides over a kangaroo court, condemning the aristocracy to death. And he gives them two options, either death or exile. And both of those options lead to death…
Live a Grateful Life
The Academy Awards, the Grammys, the Oscars, the Emmys, they’re so awesome. The beauty of these award shows is that the first thing that happens when someone receives an award, they actually show gratitude. They share with everyone who has helped them on this journey and the fact that they can’t do it alone…
Start Small
So at the foot of the mountain of Assisi. There is a beautiful church called Saint Mary of the Angels. Inside the church is another very small church called the Portiuncula, which is where Saint Francis began his mission. He didn’t begin as one who was feeding the whole world. He was just a simple man who said yes in a…
Soften The Hardened Heart
Let’s talk about Thanos. Thanos is not a good guy. He basically destroys half of the universe. He has so many opportunities to change his heart, but his heart is so hardened that he is not able to. And that’s the downfall of Thanos, that his heart is so hardened that he can’t have a conversion. In the gospel for this Sunday…
Be Consistent With Jesus
Maybe or maybe not you have a friend like this, someone who is so good at giving grand gestures, someone who really knows how to show you a good time. But that person then, like, ghosts you for two weeks straight. If we don’t have consistency in a friendship, then it just feels empty. And here is what Jesus is saying in this…
Love Your Body
Have you ever been at Mass and your eyes glaze over during the Creed? Well, don’t do that anymore. Especially the last part. I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body. That is what the gospel is about. Today, Jesus is saying that our bodies will rise just…