Last year, in a faraway magical land known as Italia. A study figured out what month the average Italian gives up on their New Year’s resolution. And you may have guessed it, it’s February. If you didn’t know, February is one month after January. That’s not much time. The realization is that we want to follow through on things; we don’t want to give up. But the problem is that we are not convicted enough to be able to…

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…

So, very often in the Old Testament, this is what happens. A prophet speaks to a group of people, calling them to turn back to the Lord. And what does the group of people do? They say no! They reject God, and bad things happen. They dig a hole that they cannot get out of. But the fantastic thing about the first reading for this Sunday is that Jonah, a prophet, speaks to the people of Nineveh, calling them to repent and…

Imagine yourself three years ago. What were you like? Most likely, you have grown and matured, and the vast majority of those three years were probably really ordinary; they were probably boring. We are now in ordinary time, and the Gospel is for this Sunday. The disciples begin their three-year journey with Jesus. Imagine the disciples at the beginning of this time, and imagine who they are at the end of that time…

I get asked very often by people who are slightly older than me. “Father Tim, where are all the young people? They’re not coming to mass. They’re not growing in their relationship with the Lord. They don’t believe in anything.” A bit of that is valid, but most of it is false. Me and Spirit Juice and 24,000 of our closest friends were at a conference called SEEK, which was incredible. Twenty-four thousand young people…

So a new “Hunger Games” movie, “Ballad of Songbird and Snakes,” just came out, and this is not a spoiler. However, the two main characters, Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray, have an excellent relationship. Lucy Gray, everything about her, inspires Coriolanus Snow to be good and to be more virtuous. She is the light. She is the hope for Coriolanus Snow. Today, we celebrate the blessed Epiphany of the Lord…

Today is the Feast Day of the Holy Family. And what better thing to talk about than “Fast and the Furious.” Dominic Toretto is amazing at driving fast. But he is more impressive with protecting his family. My favorite quote from the ninth movie is, “The worst thing you can do to a Toretto is take away his family.” Translate that to our faith, and oh my gosh, the worst thing that you can do to God the Father…

A few years ago, I was at a barbershop, and while getting my haircut, a woman shared with everyone in the room that she had a rough year. And because she had had a rough year, she decided to cancel Christmas. And the inner Buddy, the elf in me, freaked out. You can’t cancel Christmas. How can you do that? The reality is that the incarnation cannot be canceled. Christmas is cancel-proof because…