Homily – March 29th, 2024 – Good Friday

Homily – March 29th, 2024 – Good Friday

Your former pastor, Jeff Doucette, and I used to call Good Friday—facetiously, I might add—the great Catholic guilt day. We weren’t totally wrong as guilt often fills people when they hear that Passion reading we just heard. Even though none of us were personally there 2000 years ago yelling, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” we, nonetheless, feel at least a twinge of guilt for not being the best version of ourselves here and now. We see and hear about God’s great ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – March 28th, 2024 – Holy Thursday

Homily – March 28th, 2024 – Holy Thursday

Traditionally what we celebrate on Holy Thursday is the institution of the Eucharist, the Passover meal reinterpreted by Jesus and celebrated by us to this very day. There are five accounts of the Last Supper. The earliest account comes from Paul, as we heard in that second reading. Although Paul wasn’t one of the twelve gather at the Last Supper, he nevertheless tells us that Jesus broke bread and passed a cup of wine to his apostles and told them ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – March 24, 2024 – Palm Sunday

Homily – March 24, 2024 – Palm Sunday

Not that there isn’t enough food for thought in these readings because there  really is—I nonetheless would like to start by first going back to something we heard in last Sunday’s second reading. Let me refresh your memory from a week ago. In the Letter to the Hebrews it said, “Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries to the one who was able to save him from death…” However, when I listen to the Passion reading of today ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – March 24th – Palm Sunday

Reflection – March 24th – Palm Sunday

My God, my God…

Years ago, when I was the catechetical coordinator at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, the parent of a child in year 5 called me with a question from her son.  They had been to mass on Palm Sunday, and hearing in the Gosepl the same words used during the the responsorial psalm – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – the child asked, ‘Since Jesus is the Son of God, and knows everything, why ...

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Ellen Bennett

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Homily – March 17th, 2024 – 5th Sunday of Lent

Homily – March 17th, 2024 – 5th Sunday of Lent

In the opening line of this gospel story we just heard, we are told that some Greeks have come to Jerusalem obviously to a Jewish festival. These Greek-speaking people are non-Jews, or what we call “Gentiles.” They have heard something intriguing about this Jesus, and whatever has stirred within them, they cannot let it go unaddressed. They want to make an appointment and so they say to Philip, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” The reason the Greeks go to ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – March 17th, 2024 – 5th Sunday of Lent

Reflection – March 17th, 2024 – 5th Sunday of Lent

A few years ago, someone close to me learned through DNA testing that one of the parents who raised her was not a biological parent. This sent waves of shock through her family, in part because half her DNA was from an entirely different race of people with a different language and culture. “Your ancestry DNA certainly sounds more interesting than mine,” was my response, which I now know was cavalier, given the personal and emotional upheavel she was experiencing. ...

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Trevor Droesbeck

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Reflection – March 10th, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Lent

Reflection – March 10th, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Lent


Testing or Trusting?

As a kid growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, the two things’ boys talked about most on the school yard were “Friday Night at the Fights” (boxing from Madison Square Garden in N.Y.C.) and stuntman Evel Knievel. We didn’t have pay-per-view, the wide range of live stream venues, or the internet to entertain us. Evel Knievel was a motorcycle daredevil who performed death-defying jumps over buses, cars, and even canyons to the thrill of audiences. He would ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – March 3rd, 2024 – Third Sunday of Lent

Homily – March 3rd, 2024 – Third Sunday of Lent

This story of Jesus upsetting the tables of the moneychangers and speaking about destroying and rebuilding the Temple is not only very visual but also is found in all four gospels. John, the gospel writer we heard from today, places the story at the beginning of Jesus ministry while Matthew, Mark, and Luke place it near the end. By placing it near the end of Jesus’ ministry, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are suggesting that this talk and action of Jesus ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – March 3rd, 2024 – Third Sunday of Lent

Reflection – March 3rd, 2024 – Third Sunday of Lent

What Does Sabbath Mean to You?

Recently I was in an R.C.I.A. meeting and as a group we were looking at today’s First reading.  As our leader read the text for us, we were asked to listen intently and then share a word or phrase that we heard that really jumped out at us.  The line that kept replaying in my mind was, “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.”  As we shared our responses to the question on the ...

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Mark Mahoney

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Homily – February 25th, 2024 – Second Sunday of Lent

Homily – February 25th, 2024 – Second Sunday of Lent

A few years ago, I had the privilege of being on Mount Tabor, the mountain of Jesus’ transfiguration. While it was “good to be there,” I have to admit, it was a little anticlimactic. It would have been wonderful if, on that day, the words of today’s gospel would have come true where it says, “they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus.” I didn’t get to that personal moment with Jesus alone, not even in my mind. ...

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Fr Phil

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