I don’t know if you’re like me, but every time I see a baby, I only want to hold and squeeze it because it’s so cute. Maybe that makes me weird. What this is called is the positive feedback loop. When we hold or care for an infant child, it releases oxytocin. It’s written in our biology that babies are cute. The gospel for this Sunday is intense, but it is all about the preciousness of children, and the Catholic Church says that children are the supreme good. Jesus talks about some fierce things. He talks about divorce. He talks about adultery. He talks about human beings being made male and female, and all of these things that Jesus is talking about are rooted in children being the supreme gift.
In our culture, children are seen as a curse, an accident, or a problem. Jesus reminds us in the gospel that children are the supreme gift from the Lord, and let’s not forget that. This is Spirit Juice. Peace.
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Jesus In The Present
So it is finally Advent, which means it is a new church year. So happy New Year, Mother Church. Happy New Year, Bing Crosby. Happy New Year to you all. What I love about Advent is that the church teaches us that we experience three Advents and three comings of Christ. He comes in the past. Jesus is also coming in the future. But the third Advent is that Jesus always desires to come into our hearts…
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Who Comes First?
The people we love should matter deeply, our family, our spouse, our friends, the people who need us. But in this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus asks a challenging question: who comes first?
When Jesus says that anyone who loves father or mother more than Him is not worthy of Him, He isn’t dismissing our relationships. He’s showing us the proper order of love. When Jesus is truly first, every other love in our life becomes rightly ordered.
So the question is simple but serious: is Jesus actually the center of your life? Family, comfort, plans, priorities. When everything is on the table, who wins? Don’t stand Him up.
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Get Up and Share The Gospel
My dad mastered the art of getting me out of bed when I was a kid. If I were sleeping in, my dad would rush into my room, jump onto the bed, tackle me, and say that it was time to get up. And the crazy thing is I never felt attacked. I felt safe and loved, and then I felt encouraged to get up. Jesus does something very, very similar in the gospel for this Sunday. He’s calling the disciples to get up, to get out, and to…
