Andel’s Mass Blog

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Rising from Ashes on Easter

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mass-Blog-for-Easter-Sunday-2023.mp3) This Easter Sunday Peter recalls that he and the other apostles witnessed all of their Master’s miracles—except for his final one: rising from the dead. This was the miracle Jesus said MUST happen. They just couldn’t imagine how. Seeing their Master’s empty tomb, they only […]

An Accusation We Must Passionately Own

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mass-Blog-for-Palm-Sunday2-2023.mp3) In Matthew’s account of the Passion we read this Sunday (Mt 26:14—27:66), Jesus says to the people who would help him fulfill his mission to die for humanity’s life, in effect, “YOU have made it so.” Let’s count the ways: #1: Then Judas, his betrayer, […]

Movie Review Extra: “65”– Let the Fiddler on the Roof of This Spaceship Take You Home

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mass-Blog-Movie-Review-Extra-65.mp3) Our family saw a double feature yesterday. On their surfaces, these two movies couldn’t have been more alien from one another, but deep down they were connected by a heart. The theme we saw in their commonality was, “home is where the heart is.” The […]

God’s Favorite Miracle

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mass-Blog-for-the-Fifth-Sunday-of-Lent-2023.mp3) This Sunday’s gospel reading about Jesus restoring life to Lazarus has a section that’s often overshadowed by that great miracle (Jn 11:1-45). In it, Jesus teaches his disciples about the new life he is giving THEM. When Jesus tells them of his plan to return […]

Movie Review Extra: “Creed III”: Finding its Moral is a Job

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mass-Blog-Movie-Review-Creed-III-2023.mp3) What do you think when you see the word “Creed?” If you go to the movies a lot, you may know it’s the latest in the series of boxing movies inspired by the original “Rocky” franchise. But if you frequent more Biblical sources, you might […]

The Cure for Googly Eyes

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mass-Blog-for-the-Fourth-Sunday-of-Lent-2023.mp3) A new brand of software-equipped eyeglasses is now available, offering wearers real-time text recognition, voice controls and hands-free video calling. These “smartglasses,” the manufacturer promises, “enable the unprecedented experience of unobtrusive access to the visual world.” That’s nice, because we humans can be the blindest […]

No Child Has to Be Fatherless—or Faithless

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mass-Blog-for-the-Third-Sunday-of-Lent-2023.mp3) Recently The Wall Street Journal published a page-long article on kids killing kids (Juvenile Crime Surges, Reversing Decline). It quoted several experts blaming the pandemic’s elimination of “routine” in kids’ lives. These experts also cited easy access to guns and entrapment in “social” media’s solitary […]

Movie Review Extra: “Jesus Revolution”

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Mass-Blog-Movie-Review-Jesus-Revolution-2023.mp3) Yesterday I took the family to see “Jesus Revolution.” This movie is inspirational, but it’s also a cautionary tale about the fine line faith leaders of all denominations walk between Good Shepherd and Cult Superstar. In a genius piece of casting, it stars Jonathan Roumie, […]

The Frightful Effects of Fear without Faith

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Mass-Blog-for-the-Second-Sunday-of-Lent-2023.mp3) The readings for Lent commemorate scary times. This Sunday’s are particularly fearsome for those involved because these people are pushed into something new. Nevertheless, they faced the unknown with courage born of faith and family. For them, raising a family meant generations of succession, and […]

Movie Review Extra–Titanic: An Idol worth Seeing as a Parable

by Tom Andel

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Mass-Blog-Movie-ReviewTitanic-2023.mp3) I took the family to see the 25th Anniversary re-release of James Cameron’s “Titanic.” On second viewing, as a more mature viewer than I was on the film’s maiden voyage a quarter century ago, it says more to me about idolatry than it did about […]