The Post-Game

Jesus had to go. And it's actually better that he did.

Ascension Sunday, and Msgr. Tom makes the case that the disciples needed Jesus to leave so the mission could continue. He had to return to the Father to complete what started at his birth, and he had to send the Holy Spirit so the rest of us could pick up where he left off. But first, the apostles did something very human: they just stood there, staring at the sky, until two strangers basically said, what are you waiting for?

In the conversation, we get into why it's better that Jesus left (his words, not ours), whether most Catholics actually know the Great Commission is the most cited New Testament passage in the Catechism, and what to do when you're stuck in the in-between, waiting for something you can't quite name.

One week until Pentecost. Homily + conversation, all in one episode.

Six weeks. One question. Are you ready to go?

This week wraps the Easter message series, and Msgr. Tom introduces the one who's been behind everything: the Advocate. The Holy Spirit. He starts with a contradiction: Philip and Stephen were appointed to serve at tables, so why are they out preaching and performing signs? Then he unpacks the Greek word parakletos, called to the side of, defense attorney, helper, comforter, and lands on an image that sticks. The Holy Spirit isn't wrapping you in a warm cocoon. It's a mama bird nudging you out of the nest.

In the conversation, Msgr. Tom shares what it was like showing up to his first parish expecting a syllabus and being told "do whatever you want," which role of the Holy Spirit he thinks people need most right now, and something that reframed how I think about prayer: when we sing Come Holy Spirit, we're not asking the Spirit to show up. The Spirit's already here. We're reminding ourselves.

Homily + conversation, all in one episode.

Last week it was time to go. This week, Msgr. Tom gets specific about what that actually means.

Who goes? You do. You're reputable, you're filled with the Spirit, you're a living stone. What does the goer do? The works Jesus did, and greater ones. He said it to a church full of lifelong parishioners and seven kids receiving their first communion on the same morning.

In the conversation, we get into why the word "reputable" mattered so much to him, what Jesus actually meant by "you'll do greater works than these" (and why Msgr. Tom immediately said don't get a big head), and what it's like to preach to a room that spans seven-year-olds to seventy-year-olds.

Homily + conversation, all in one episode.

Four weeks. Four times Msgr. Tom asked "are you ready to go?" Four times the answer was no. This week, it's finally time.

This Fourth Sunday of Easter, and the message shifts. The gate swings both ways and Msgr. Tom tells the congregation something he doesn't usually say out loud: after 33 years, he's still nervous every single time he steps up to preach.

In the conversation, we get into why he chose to share that, a listener question about what first made him think about becoming a priest, what "going out into the mission field" actually looks like on a regular Wednesday, and this four-week arc was planned.

Homily + conversation, all in one episode.

Happy Easter, week three. The disciples still aren't ready to go, but this time Msgr. Tom says it's not on them. It's on the Lord.

This week's homily goes to the road to Emmaus, two disciples walking away from Jerusalem, hearts broken, until a stranger starts connecting dots they'd heard their whole lives but never understood. Then he breaks bread, and they see it. And he's gone.

In the conversation, we get into what it takes to read scripture like it's the first time (even when you grew up hearing it every week), whether The Chosen counts as a supplement or a shortcut, and what Msgr. Tom himself would want Jesus to explain to him if they were walking that road together today.

Homily + conversation, all in one episode.

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday. This week, Msgr. Tom asks the question that opens our new message series. Are you ready to go?

The disciples weren't. A week after the resurrection, they're still locked in the same room. Thomas isn't even there the first time Jesus shows up. And yet this is the group Jesus sends out to change the world.

In the conversation, Msgr. Tom and I get into why Catholics sometimes get uneasy with the word evangelization, what Thomas has meant to him personally since he was a kid (it's not what you'd guess), and a couple of great questions sent in from listeners about whether you can ever bother God with too many prayers, and what to do when you're scared to let go of a sin you've gotten attached to.

Homily + conversation, all in one episode.

Happy Easter. We're kicking off The Post-Game with Easter Sunday's homily from Msgr. Tom Nydegger, and then sticking around to dig into it a little more.

This week: a fourth grade field day, a kid named Billy Madison, and what it means that Mary Magdalene went running from the tomb. Msgr. Tom unpacks the urgency of the resurrection, what "Jesus Christ IS risen" in the present tense actually means, and whether he's sprinting or running a marathon right now.

Homily + conversation, all in one episode.