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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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…
Hungry for Jesus
Okay, so let’s talk about sushi. It is a common experience that when people eat sushi, they feel more hungry afterward. There are so many factors to this. White rice is quickly digestible. There is very little protein within sushi. The salty soy sauce that we consume also makes us really, really thirsty and really, really hungry. All these factors combined do not satisfy us. In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus…
Jesus and Our Purpose
Imagine if Luke Skywalker never left Tatooine, or imagine if Frodo never left The Shire, or imagine if Eleven never left Mike Wheeler’s basement and just stayed there. All of these heroes were meant for something. They had a purpose, and they lived it out. And we are called to do the same thing. In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus pities the people because they are like sheep without a shepherd, and…
Security Blanket
Question: what is your security blanket? For Gollum, it’s the ring. For Tony Stark, it’s the Iron Man suit. For Woody, it’s his status as a favorite toy. In the gospel for the Sunday, Jesus gives us the foundations of discipleship, and one of those things is getting rid of the unhealthy attachments that prevent us from Jesus. We all have them. We all have those security blankets that bring us false security…
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…