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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Embracing Shame
Defensiveness, denial, rationalization, avoidance. What do these things have in common? It’s what we do when we avoid shame. None of us like to experience shame. None of us like to experience suffering. And we love to avoid. We love to deny. We love to distract ourselves because shame does not feel good. Here is the gospel, though, where Saint Peter does the same thing. He tells Jesus…
Voice of God
Okay, guys, you have to check out this photo. This photo was taken in 1974 of a little boy named Harold. Harold could not hear anything, so doctors placed a hearing aid in his ear, which is the reaction of Harold hearing sound for the first time. And this picture is so moving, but what we hear in the gospel for this Sunday is even more moving and more incredible. Jesus Christ takes a deaf man away from the crowd…
God’s Law and Barnacles
Okay, so let’s talk about barnacles. And I’m not talking about what SpongeBob says when he’s upset. But barnacles attach themselves to a boat or a large creature like a whale and are foreign entities. They’re not supposed to be there. In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus is very clear about us, and how we love to create our human laws and put them in God’s law, but when we do that, we attach barnacles to…
What If
Let’s play the what-if game. In the gospel for the Sunday, what if Peter left Jesus? We wouldn’t have the Eucharist. We wouldn’t have a pope. We wouldn’t have the Catholic Church. We wouldn’t have the sacraments. Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift would never have met. But seriously, Jesus Christ stakes everything, all of salvation, on the mere chance that Peter would say yes and stay with Him. That’s how important…
Something That Lasts
I recently took my college kids on a pilgrimage to Orvieto, Italy. Orvieto is the home to a Eucharistic Miracle, and I could talk about the Eucharistic Miracle all day. What is so crazy is that St. Thomas Aquinas lived during the time of this Eucharistic Miracle. St. Thomas Aquinas fell so deeply in love with Jesus and the Eucharist that he wrote “The Tantum Ergo.” “The Tantum Ergo” is sung every day around the world…
Spiritual Coziness
Okay, what are the top five things Americans attribute to the word cozy? Number one, soft sofas. Number two, hot beverages. Number three, books. Number four, blankets. Number five, fireplaces. For us as Catholics, what is the thing that brings us coziness? It’s not a fireplace; it’s the sanctuary lamp because whenever we walk into a church and see it lit, we know that our friend Jesus is present. And there is…
It’s True
Did you know that the sun is 400 times larger than the moon? It may not look like it, but it’s true. Did you know that a typical cloud in the sky weighs 1.1 million pounds? It may not look like it, but it’s true. Did you know that Jesus is Lord and God to his people as he is dying on the cross? It may not look like it, but it’s true. And in the gospel for the Sunday, Jesus Christ gives us his flesh to eat, his blood to drink…
Fr. Flanagan
Okay, guys, we are going to the movies. Spirit Juice Studios has created this original content, a film about Father Flanagan, an absolute rockstar priest and up for canonization. Father Flanagan dedicated his life to protecting children and providing for them, especially those who were orphans and disadvantaged from every race and religion, and he gave of himself totally for them. This is a fantastic…