Breaking In The Habit

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas season! I had the opportunity to visit my family for 8 days and didn’t hesitate to let everything go for a week. I hope the absence of this newsletter wasn’t too jarring for everyone! Things will be fairly regular for the foreseeable future.

Because I’ve taken a few weeks off, there isn’t much new to share, and so, as I do each year, I want to look back on 2022 and offer some of my favorites.

Breaking in the Habit

Christmas as it should be told. This video came out just over a week ago but it’s one I hope will live on for a while. The Story of Christmas is not sweet and comforting–it’s unsettling.

Talk about a deep dive down a rabbit hole! This video was one of the most interesting that I’ve ever researched.

The views winner for the year, it was definitely the funniest and most fun to make (not to mention informative!)

Want to see a bit more of what I do and who I am? This walk and talk is a fun peak into my life.

Upon Friar Review

Sometimes, you have to be able to laugh about yourself. This applies even to our faith.

https://youtu.be/3cMXAB_g580

Not everyone is called to be a friar. In this movie, we follow a man destined for a different way of serving God.

https://youtu.be/yY_vAWhFq7s

Yikes. This movie is tough to watch. But important.

https://youtu.be/8hKaBSrWauo

The sacrament of confession is such an important part of our lives. Unfortunately, it’s not always portrayed well in the media.

https://youtu.be/tSrMp-46y08

Everyday Liminality

Gosh, do I love Pixar movies. Which is why this bracket was inevitable.

Who doesn’t love Mean Girls? I mean, really! Not only is it iconic, it’s fantastic.

Fr. Tito and I dissect one of my favorite movies of all time A League of Their Own.

I was really surprised by how good Bird Box was. It posed a lot of questions for me.

Thanks for a great year!

2022 was a great year for Breaking in the Habit and I’m excited to be back soon for 2023!

Peace and good,

Fr. Casey

Rejoice!

Today the Church celebrates Gaudete Sunday, a short reprieve in a fasting and waiting to remember that Jesus is already among us. And not a day too soon. How easy it is to look around our world and see nothing but darkness and despair! But these are not eyes of faith if that is all we see. Christ is among us.

My homily today builds off of this, looking at the many ways that the world has improved over the past 100 years, leading to a few anecdotes about my life today. Those anecdotes, where I find Jesus in our world, was the topic of this week’s reflection.

Can You See Him?

We Need to Laugh

An essential part of rejoicing is having a good laugh. The past two weeks of Upon Friar Review have given a heavy dose of just that. These videos will have you in stitches!

https://youtu.be/3cMXAB_g580

https://youtu.be/_p3eQxeMe7g

We Need A Hero

In our final pairing of the season for Everyday Liminality, Fr. Tito and I are looking at the origin of the superhero explosion, Spider-Man. In last week’s episode we discussed the 2002 movie with Toby Maguire, and next week we’ll compare it to the 2012 movie The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield.

You Can Play Along!

For the season finale of Everyday Liminality, Fr. Tito and I are crowning the best Pixar movie. Since there are 26 movies we couldn’t do a full 32-team bracket as usual, but I think it’s going to be great. If you’d like to fill out the bracket yourself, we’d love to see your guesses! Email us your completed bracket to everydayliminality@gmail.com. The person with the most points (compared to our picks) will receive an Amazon gift card!

Beginning the Gospel of Matthew

With the beginning of Advent meant the beginning of a new lectionary cycle, moving our attention to the Gospel of Matthew. Just this week, I began reading and meditating on this gospel on my podcast The Word Became Flesh. If you’re looking for a daily reflection series, check it out today!

Drafting the Saints

I created a filter on TikTok to infuse a little more saintly conversation. I’m not using it for the most “normal” of things, but it fun!

@caseyofm

Things were great until the end… #CatholicSaints #catholic #society #fyp

♬ original sound – caseyofm

@caseyofm

Pick your top 5 saints. Who you got? Catholic@BeAFranciscan @TheWhiskeyPriest_OFM

♬ original sound – caseyofm

@caseyofm

Who should run thr Church? #Catholic #saints #church

♬ original sound – caseyofm

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday and that your Advent season is going well!

Peace and good,

Fr. Casey

Happy Thanksgiving, Advent

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week and are excited about the season of Advent. I spent part of the week with parents, who drove in to stay at the friary, and the other half completely and utterly relaxing (so much so that I forgot to post this week’s podcast! Oops! It’ll come out Tuesday.)

Because of that, I only have to things to share this week. The first has not been getting much traction (because I don’t know how to market it) but is one of the most important things I’ve ever made. I hope that you will watch it to the end and take it seriously.

The second, is much less important but a good conversation nonetheless. Fr. Patrick and I review God’s Not Dead, a movie that has become a symbol of a movement more than anything else. I don’t like the essential message of the movie and find the production atrocious, but there are still some things worth discussing.

https://youtu.be/Ymue-RHxk70

Back with more next week!

Peace and good,

Fr. Casey

No Much to Share Last Week!

Sorry for the lack of newsletter last week, but one of my videos was blocked, I had a busy day, and I knew there would be less to share this week. Good news? The original video was released! But first, Christ the King.

When you look to the rulers of the world, there is often a temptation to serve certain people more than others. No president is the president for all. New CEOs replace the VPs with their people. Coaches replace their staff when they’re hired. While it doesn’t have to be malicious in intent, it’s hard to find a leader who gives equal attention and opportunity to all people.

Jesus, naturally, is the exception. As King of the Universe, he is the creator and savior of everything and everyone. In 2 Samuel, we see his forerunner David elected because he united the twelve tribes of Israel, recognized as their “flesh and bone.” In Colossians we are reminded that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, the reason for everything in existence, thus caring for everything in existence. And in the Gospel, we see that he has come to save not only the good and the just, but even those who mock him.

Our challenge is to be a king like Jesus. We are called to love all, not just the good ones. We must rule with patience and humility, laying down our lives even for the ones that don’t accept us.

Church Hopping with King of the Hill

What do you do when you no longer feel at home in your church? Here is not the right answer.

https://youtu.be/NvIu0UyYuJk

Our Anger is Killing Us

I’m so tired of the way we do politics in the United States. I’m exhausted with our anger. While righteous anger has its place, I’m not sure what we’re doing is helping anyone.

Learning to be a kid again

Is A Quiet Place A Catholic Movie?

Seeing overt and stereotypical Catholic imagery in a horror film is not only common, it’s a bit cliche. Seeing subtle and wholesome Catholic imagery in a horror movie is an aberration. A Quiet Place has no exorcisms, no crosses warding off demons, and no latin, but it does have a family named the Abbots that prayers and works together in silence as a shield against the evils of the world. Could it really be a pro-monastic life movie?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving this week!

Fr. Casey

Don’t Give Up Hope

This Sunday, our readings are focused on death and the afterlife, offering two examples of how life may be full of suffering but that there is something more that awaits us. In the case of the tortured men in Maccabees, we know that God brings the just to himself and gives new life. In the case of the woman who is passed around to seven different men while alive, we know that this is no more giving or taking of marriage in heaven, that all live “as angels,” free and equal.

As we continue to remember the dead who have meant something to us (either on All Saints or All Souls this week), we know that God lifts up the just and offers us a new chance at broken relationships in heaven.

Broken, But Not Lost

For many Christians, October 31 isn’t just Halloween, it is Reformation Day, a commemoration of those who left the Catholic Church to start a new way. As Catholics, we can’t help but weep for the division that still plagues us 500 years later. But all is not lost. Our family may be broken, but there is something that Protestants can teach us Catholics. For this reason, I decided to make two videos this week, telling both sides of the story.

Learning to Cope with Loss

What do you tell a ten-year-old when his best friend dies? How do you help him cope with such an unimaginable loss? The Bridge to Terabithia sets out to answer just that. Generations have grown up reading the book, and this week, Fr. Tito and I discussed the movie adaptation.

Jesus Gives Us Hope

The reason that we have hope in the face of division and tragedy, is, of course, Jesus Christ. How wonderful it is, then, that we get to end our week by reflecting on the newest season of the hit show The Chosen. As we’ve said before, it’s not perfect, but we think it’s pretty dang good.

https://youtu.be/NlydacVRBjc

Want to Encounter Jesus Yourself?

Join me each day on my new podcast, The Word Became Flesh, to read and reflect on Scripture. It takes just 15 minutes a day to get to know Jesus better and welcome him into your life.

Your Civic Responsibility and Opportunity

This Tuesday in the United States is a major election. As Catholics, these can be difficult times, as our two-party system offers us very poor options. Inevitably, we are choosing flawed candidates that undermine a good society in some sense. That said, there is something to like in each candidate and I hope that you can take the opportunity to vote on Tuesday, remembering that a vote does not mean a full endorsement of a candidate’s position. In a messy world, we have to do the best with the choices we’re given.

Peace and good to all,

Fr. Casey