‘Tis the season for gingerbread lattes, candy canes, and watching “Die Hard.” It’s a Christmas movie. Today, we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent, which is crazy because tomorrow is Christmas. Very rarely in the church calendar, this happens, where Christmas falls right after the fourth Sunday of Advent, and I love it when this happens because it always makes me realize that whenever I’m not acting like a friend of Jesus, he passes me by. I don’t recognize how he is working in my life. We have hours until we celebrate the incarnation and the coming of Christ. Are we ready? Have we been a friend of Jesus? In these last hours of Advent, live as if you are a friend of Jesus because you’ll recognize how he reveals himself to you daily, and you’ll never be the same. This is Spirit Juice. Peace.
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Face to Face with Jesus
What happens when you come face to face with the God of the universe? You don’t want to leave.
At a recent retreat, students encountered Jesus in a powerful way and many of them said the same thing: “I don’t want to go. I just want to stay.” In His presence, everything else fades.
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Peter, James, and John experience that same reality at the Transfiguration. Overwhelmed by glory, they want to pitch tents and remain there with Him.
This Lent, keep it simple: make space to sit in the presence of Jesus. Stay. Listen. Let Him meet you there.
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Living on the Sidelines?
Sometimes, I feel like Guy. If you’ve ever seen the movie, “Free Guy,” you know that Guy is living his life on the sidelines. He doesn’t really think his life is about him. But at one point, Guy realizes that the video game that he is in is his story and that he is the main character. And he gets after it. On this Palm Sunday, we hear the entire story of Jesus’s passion for us. A lot of the time, we feel like we are on the sidelines…
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The Holy Name of Jesus
So, the coat of arms in my archdiocese is epic. It shows a phoenix, which is a symbol of resurrection. And on the chest of the phoenix is the IHS, which is the holy name of Jesus. And so, in the first reading for this Sunday, Saint Peter, our first pope, heals a man by the holy name of Jesus. He can heal because of his name because Jesus’ name is mighty. In the Old Testament…
