Homily for Holy Thursday, April 2, 2026

That first reading from the Book of Exodus speaks about the central feast of our Jewish brothers and sisters down to this very day—the great feast of Passover. What I didn’t realize, until recently, is that the entire passage is a monologue spoke by God. It’s God speaking instructions about how to prepare the Passover meal and what to do with the lamb’s blood afterward. It ends with a command to do this ritual, that is, observe Passover as a ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily for April 3, 2006 (Good Friday)

In that Passion account we just heard, within just a few hours, Pontius Pilate asked Jesus 11 questions. Nobody in the entire Bible (Old Testament or New Testament) asks as many questions as he does. It becomes clear that Pilate really doesn’t want to know the answer to any of these questions. When Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, says that he came into this world to testify to the truth, Pilate asks him a question, ...

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2026

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Fr Phil

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Homily for Sunday, March 22, 2026

I’m beginning to appreciate the importance of the gospel stories we’ve had over the last three Sundays. Like I mentioned last weekend, in the Early Church, a person could not be baptized unless they were familiar with the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well (two Sundays ago), the story of the Man Born Blind (last Sunday), and today’s story of the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead. With each story we get a little bit closer to the ...

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2026

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Fr Phil

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Homily for Sunday, March 15, 2026

For almost the first four hundred years of the Church’s existence only adults were baptized. Apparently, in the Early Church, a person could not be baptized unless they passed a certain litmus test. The litmus test was that they had to know their way into and their way out of three important stories: the story of the Samaritan woman at the well (last Sunday), the story of the man born blind (today), and the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from ...

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MAR
2026

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Fr Phil

Fr. Phil, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Lent, Phil Mulligan, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Prophet: The Much-Needed Archetype (part 3)

In the unsettling times we live in, I recognize the absolute need for prophetic voices to help me (us) see that creation is still good, that God is still in charge, and that God’s life-giving plan will ultimately be victorious. These prophets, however, don’t just fall from the sky like treats from a vending machine. Prophets are born out of painful calls of the suffering earth, its people, and from the persistent nudging from God. While I’ve known of prophets ...

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MAR
2026

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Fr Phil

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Homily for Sunday, March 8, 2026

I mentioned in last weekend’s homily how I believed that while Jesus was transfigured, on Mount Tabor, it was the apostles who were ultimately transformed. Transformation isn’t cosmetic; it makes a deep claim on you and changes you forever. There is a definite “before” and a definite “after.” You were one person before the experience, and you were clearly another person after. The Samaritan woman at the well is a classic story of transformation. Before, she was a woman who ...

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MAR
2026

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Fr Phil

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Prophet: The Much-Needed Archetype (Part II)

I ended the last article by describing how the prophet, one of the archetypes within each of us, is never satisfied with the status quo. Prophetic people feel disloyal to themselves and to their higher calling whenever they have to succumb to “the way things are” especially when “the way things are” are unjust and cause unnecessary suffering. They feel for the “little guy,” the “underdog” and are attentive to peoples’ grief before it becomes a statistic. The homeless one, ...

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6
MAR
2026

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Fr Phil

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Homily for Sunday, March 1, 2026

Once again, the opening line of the gospel is very telling and points us beyond the story itself. It starts off by telling us that Jesus led Peter, James and John up a mountain to be by themselves. You’ll recall that this will be the same trio who, later on, will be with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion. Peter, James and John, who witness his glory on the mountain peak, will soon afterwards observe ...

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MAR
2026

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Fr Phil

Fr. Phil, god, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Lent, Phil Mulligan, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Reflection for March 1st, 2026

Prophet: The Much-Needed Archetype (Part 1)

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the role and the need for the “prophet,” especially considering the turmoil, instability, and the gratuitous violence I see unfolding in the world. It’s always been there, both the need for the prophet and the violence. However, the grease lightning speed at which we are bombarded with news (both media and social media) and the fact that we have a narcissist, a highchair tyrant, leading America, makes me ...

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MAR
2026

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Fr Phil

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Homily for Sunday, February 22, 2026

I have no real problem calling this gospel passage of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert by what Christians have called it for a very long time–“the temptations of Christ.” The devil, whatever you image that to be, is portrayed as the culprit, the one who enticed Jesus into sin then and the one who entices us into sin now. It’s much like the snake in the Genesis story we just heard. The snake is the antagonist who lured Adam ...

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2026

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Fr Phil

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Posts Tagged 'Phil Mulligan'