At 3:00 p.m. today, my face will be on the floor. For Catholics, on Good Friday, the priest lays prostrate on the ground, representing Jesus giving his whole self, his whole body for us. It signifies total reverence and honor to our Lord, who gave everything. And what I love about our chapel at the Newman Center is that my head will be lying upon the Latin words “Dominum et vivificantem,” which means “The Lord, the giver of…

I am about to wash the feet of 12 of my students because it is Holy Thursday. Jesus, on this day, gives us the priesthood. He gives us the Eucharist and reminds us that he lowers himself. For us, this is so radical that we are called as Christians to lower ourselves. This is the secret of the saints. They always said I’m the worst of us. I am the greatest sinner of all of us. They realized that they needed Jesus, and they wanted to…

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…

So, our Newman Center just returned from our mission trip to Belize, which was unbelievable. But one of our students, who is just so awesome sauce, experienced something incredible when encountering the poor. She encountered Jesus. Not only did she encounter Jesus, but for the first time in her life, she loved how Jesus loved. In the gospel for this Sunday, we see Jesus’s heart burning on display, that his love is…

Ebenezer Scrooge, Severus Snape, Loki, The Grinch. What do they all have in common? They are suspicious of joy. In the gospel for this Sunday, we have the story of the famous prodigal son. The older son is suspicious of joy. He hears the party for the younger son, and instead of going out, he is suspicious of the joy happening. If they are being rejoiced over, then he must be less loved. Because the older son is suspicious…

So it’s about time we talked about Michael Corleone. In the second “Godfather,” Michael Corleone has all of the opportunities, so many second chances, to step away from the violence of the mob. But in all those second chances, he decides to choose everything that is not good. In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus is giving us hope, but He’s also warning us. Jesus is always giving us second chances. If we turn back to…

Spiritual nostalgia. It is so real. It is wanting to experience your feelings again during that amazing God moment. It’s wanting to experience again that feeling you had when the Cubs won the World Series. In the gospel for the Sunday, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain and reveals his glory. They feel they experience the realness of Jesus’ divinity, but then they go down the hill, and Jesus seems to have…

So wouldn’t it be easier if Juliet forced Romeo to love him? Then, none of that heartbreak would’ve happened. So what if Jim from “The Office” forced Pam to love him in the first season? Then, none of that drama or heartbreak would’ve happened. The answer is no. Because forced love is not love. In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus is tempted by Satan to throw himself down, to reveal his glory, to reveal his divinity to the…