Breaking In The Habit

Man… it is HOT in Georgia

Usually by the end of August we’re through the worst of it here in Georgia. Not this year. Yesterday, 102°F weather turned our annual cookout into a “cook in,” and today wasn’t much better. All things considered, it might have been the best kickoff to the year we’ve ever had.

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Have you been SAVED?

It’s not usually language that we use as Catholics, but that may be something we need to change. Christianity isn’t about devotions or obligations, it’s about a relationship with the one who saves us from sin and death.

The Authority of Peter? (From the vault)

This weekend at mass, we heard Jesus’s powerful words: “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church… whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.” In my homily I said that this does not mean that everything the pope says is infallible, but it also doesn’t mean that we can choose to ignore what the pope says. Here are two videos from years past that speak to that topic.

Do you know the Acts of the Apostles?

If you’ve been coming to mass for any length of time, you probably have a good grasp on the Gospel stories. We’ve heard them plenty of times. But not so with the Acts of the Apostles, a “part 2” of the Gospel of Luke. If you’d like to grow in your understanding of the early Church, I just began praying with Acts on my daily reflection podcast The Word Became Flesh. Join me each day to pray with this great book!

Hoping for some cooler weather soon!

Hope everyone has a great week. Stay safe and stay cool!

Fr. Casey

Summer’s Over, Back to the Routine

Hope everyone has had a great summer! Mine was too hot and too short! Two weeks ago, the elementary students returned to school; last week the high school students, and tomorrow the college students. It’s back to a full schedule here in Macon, and frankly, it’s welcomed. Summer’s great, but I like the routine.

With that, comes the return of a weekly newsletter. I’ve been a bit lazy in keeping up with the posts over the summer, but here are some of the highlights you might have missed.

Advice for New Priests

Loving Our Enemies Means Loving Even Some Horrible People

We Serve Because of Who We Are, Not Because of Who They Are

There’s a Lot of Hope for Our Youth Today

@caseyofm

Catholic Youth Conference in Houston #catholic #teens #adoration #jesus #eucharist

♬ original sound – Fr. Casey

Still Reading the Bible Everyday

What Should Catholics Make of “Barbenheimer”?

Great Semester Ahead!

I’m looking forward to a great semester with some new and interesting ideas. Look for things you’ve never seen before in the coming week!

Peace and good,

Fr. Casey

This One’s For Joe

Last week, the friars of my province met for our once-every-three-years chapter, only, because of the pandemic, we hadn’t been together for 5 years. It was a long time to be apart and just a joy to see them.

One of them, Fr. Joe, asked me if I was still making videos, that he hadn’t seen any for a while. It turns out, some people do actually depend on the newsletter, and because I had given up that effort for a few months, he hadn’t see anything for a while. Thanks for the reminder to get my act together and keep this going consistently. Great to see you brother.

Rather than post everything I’ve done since Holy Week here, let me share some of the highlights.

Who Doesn’t Love Useless Trivia?

After the success of my first useless trivia video back in January 2021, I decided to revisit the topic with even more useless information. I’m not sure how this changes anyone’s life, but man is it interesting.

Separating Fact From Hollywood

When you think of demonic possession, you think of a Catholic priest doing an exorcism. You can thank Hollywood for that. On the one hand, it has heightened people’s imagination to things that are absolutely not real, but on the other, it speaks to a very unsettling reality that there are, in fact, evil forces in our world. As Christians, we should not fear this forces for we know that God is on our side and has given us the power and authority to ward them off. Here’s how.

Dealing with Criticism

It’s a fact of life that not everyone is going to like us or be kind. We can’t control that. What we can control is how we respond.

Great to See Everyone

The aforementioned chapter of brothers was great and not without a few photogenic moments. Here’s what I captured in just a few minutes while we gathered for our official picture.

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Jesus DID Exist. And Yes, That IS the Point.

Sometimes, people say foolish things on the internet. I see it as my job to make light of this and to teach what is important.

@caseyofm

When we go to mass, we participate in Christ’s resurrection alive in our lives. #liturgy #catholic #eucharist #faith #theology #Jesus #christian

♬ original sound – caseyofm

Controversial? Yes. But Not How You Think.

By the looks of the thumbnail, you might think that I’m going to defend the Confederate flag. I’m not. I think it’s a horrible symbol that makes me uncomfortable to look at.

But this is a controversial video because I’m going to insist that we try to get to understand even those who support repugnant things and to try to see things from their perspective. 

Successful evangelization doesn’t come from denouncing people who do wrong and making them feel ashamed. It comes when we can build upon what people love, drawing out from it what is good, and adding to it the fullness of truth (which essentially means conversion.) Give the video a try.

Summer is here!

Summer is here, which means a much lighter load for me. The elementary school, high school, and college where I work as a chaplain are all out of session, meaning I have more time to work on videos, prepare for the coming year, and hopefully relax. There might be a break from production at times, but there might also be an increase! We’ll just have to see.

Peace and good,

Fr. Casey

Make it an Active Holy Week

Holy Week is an amazing time of year. The liturgies are just so powerful. But there is a danger to all of the extra activities, and it’s an ironic one: it can lead us more in the past and into a passive faith. While the week is definitely about remembering the final days of Jesus on earth, it’s important to remember that liturgy is never about the past alone. It’s about calling our attention to how what happened long ago is still true today, still unfolding today, still bringing life today. We are not actors in a play and we are not trying to relive the past. Our goal, in the liturgy and in life, is to participate in what Christ is doing today. The paschal mystery is not that Jesus rose from the dead. It is that he is alive today.

But we can learn from the past…

That said, there are elements of the past we want to learn from so that we can turn away from. One of the main ones that is always thrown at us as Catholics is the crusades. Without denying that many things went wrong in these conquests, it’s important that we don’t accept every criticism as fact. Here are five myths about the crusades.

Top Gun: Maverick is… Extra

No movie is quite so dialed up to 11 like Top Gun: Maverick. Everything about it is pushed to the extreme, which is why is was such a fun movie to watch and exploded at the box office.

From the Vault: The Triduum Explained

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are the holiest days of the year for Christians. Together, they are called the Triduum. For a refresher on what that means and what we celebrate, here’s a video from 2018.

What a week to read the Bible

If you haven’t started praying with my guided meditation podcast The Word Became Flesh, you are going to want to start this week. In what can only be called perfect divine intervention, we have reached the story of the Passion according to Mark… right at the beginning of Holy Week. It was fate, I’m sure. Each day this week I’ll post a new meditation, reaching the crucifixion on Friday and taking Saturday off in silence.

Hope everyone has a great Holy Week!

I’ll be posting an important video about this week’s liturgy on either Wednesday or Thursday, so be sure to check the Breaking in the Habit YouTube page before the Triduum starts for that extra help in your prayer.

Peace and good,

Fr. Casey

Spring Break Ain’t What It Used to Be

This past week, the students at two of the schools where I serve had spring break. In the past, this was a time of fun and relaxation. Now I’m an adult. And so this past week I was in Atlanta, Austin, and College Station (TX) for talks and events. Was it fun? Yes, I guess it was, but it wasn’t relaxing at all!

This is also not fun…

As Christians, we stand for the inalienable human dignity of all people. Which means we must stand up and raise our voices when parts of our society try to take this away. In this video, I want to talk about an absolutely sickening feature of our world: prisons in the United States.

When Will This End?

If you’re like me, you wonder about the end times. When will it be time for the “end”? Scripture tells us that we known neither the day nor the hour, but we can know how it will happen. Sort of.

Fun, But Not as Good as the First One

Over the past two weeks, Fr. Tito and I have looked at sequels that were good, just not as good as the original. This starts with Men in Black 2:

And finishes with Toy Story 2:

“Baptizing” Some Kids.

There was no dunking, but definitely a baptism by fire on the court a few weeks ago. Take a look at these fun pics!

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From the Archives

While there are official pronouncements of dogma in the Church that cannot be debated, much of theology is multi-faceted. We are blessed with multiple ways of looking at almost everything. For this reason, it’s best to talk about the Church’s theologies, and to ask what methods we are using ourselves. In this video, I suggest that there are three modes of thinking about any topic in the Church.

Can you Believe Lent is Almost Over?

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday! Wow! I hope everyone has a good time preparing for the feasts!

Peace and good,

Fr. Casey