So I’m not sure if I can say this as a priest, but King Herod sucks. In the Gospel today, King Herod is evil. He is Voldemort, he is Thanos, he is the Mind Flayer all rolled into one. All he wants to do is control everything, the Jewish people, the Roman government, even to control the God of the universe, even to the point of wanting to kill Jesus Christ. A lot of the times we can be like Herod in our hearts where we want to control God. When we say, “God this is what I want for my day. “This is what I want for my life. “God, you have to do these things in my life.” We can do so many things where we try to control God during our day or throughout our lives.
The easiest way to fight against that is realizing his plans for us. The plans that you may have for your life are probably awesome and good and holy, but the Father’s plans for you from the beginning of time, those plans are perfect.
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Fear of Being Less of Ourselves
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…
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Reject Isolation
At the end of Marvel’s “Infinity War,” Thanos sits alone on a planet alone. And you may think that it’s paradise, but it’s hell. In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus says clearly, “What does it profit one if he gains the whole world “but loses his life? “Loses his soul?” Thanos gets everything he wants. He receives the Gauntlet. He gets the Infinity Stones. He wins the war…
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The Lowest Seat
This Sunday’s gospel is all about partying. I think Pope Francis should write an encyclical about how to party like a Catholic. This gospel is so good because Jesus talks about parties. We are called, not just in parties, but in life, to take the lowest seat so that we can be raised up. When you enter into a church, what is the lowest seat…
