One of my favorite scenes from The Lord of the Rings is when Gandalf heals King Theoden from Saruman’s possession. This is such an awesome scene of healing. At one point, the possessed King Theoden says to Gandalf, “If I go, Theoden dies.”
And that’s precisely what we see in the gospel today. The demon spirit tells Jesus, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” We say that to Jesus. Jesus, if you get too close to me, if I get holy, are you going to take away who I am? Jesus, if you get close, am I just going to become a Jesus freak? The closer Jesus gets to us, the more we are healed and the more we become fully alive. If there’s any fear that I will be less of myself with Jesus, reject it. Stay close to the Lord, and you will become a saint, fully alive.
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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…
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Holy Thursday
Okay, friends, we did it. It is the Triduum, and it is the holiest time of the whole year. And tonight, on Holy Thursday night, Jesus and the Eucharist are taken out of all the tabernacles in all churches and placed in a special place in the church. Tonight, Jesus goes from the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with His apostles. And He asks…
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A Commandment
When I was a kid, my mom would tell me very often, Tim, that those chores I told you to do were not a suggestion. Saying, I am your mother. Now, do it. Very similarly, in the gospel for the Sunday, Jesus gives us a commandment to love one another. This is a commandment that we are not given a suggestion. We are not given a philosophy. We are not given a soft ask that the Lord provides us with a commandment…
