Posts Tagged 'Phil Mulligan'

Homily – April 7th, 2024 – Second Sunday of Easter

It’s not the Second Sunday after Easter but the Second Sunday of Easter. And only since the year 2000 has this Sunday become known as the Sunday of Divine Mercy.

In Poland, back in 1925, a 19-year-old teenage girl fled to a convent without her parents’ permission. Her name was Helena Kowalska. Three years later she professed vows as a nun and took on the name Sr. Faustina. She had powerful visions of conversations with Jesus and, of course, they thought ...

Continue Reading →
0

Homily – March 31st, 2024 – Easter Sunday

Although nobody witnessed the actual moment Jesus rose from the tomb, Mary Magdalene was the first to witness the Risen Lord. And, as a good disciple should do, she ran and told others. Those others told others who told others who told us. That’s how we come to be here this morning. But discipleship, whether it’s Mary Magdalene’s or our own, isn’t as simple as turning on a light switch. If you’re anything like me, on the road to becoming ...

Continue Reading →
0

Homily – March 30th, 2024 – Easter Vigil

Each of the four gospel writers tell the resurrection story from a slightly different angle. The resurrection story could be told from 100 different viewpoints, and they would all add another layer of richness. Mark’s version has three women going to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. They are not the first to take up the task of anointing Jesus. On Palm Sunday we heard about a woman who broke open and poured, in a lavish way, costly ...

Continue Reading →
0

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 ...

Continue Reading →
0

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 ...

Continue Reading →
0

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 ...

Continue Reading →
0

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 ...

Continue Reading →
0

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 ...

Continue Reading →
0

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 ...

Continue Reading →
0

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. ...

Continue Reading →
0
Page 4 of 7 «...23456...»