• Just Say “Thank You”

    28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); October 9, 2022 2 Kgs 5:14-17.  Ps 987.  2 Tim 2:8-13.  Lk 17:11-19 Deacon Jim McFadden        Someone once said that “By the time you turn 75 years of age, the only words that should come out of your mouth is “thank you!”  Being over that age group, I’d…

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  • Lord, “Increase our Faith.”

    27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (C); October 2, 2022 Hb 1:2-3;2:3-4.  Ps 95.  2 Tim 1:6-8,13-14.  Lk 17:5-10 Deacon Jim McFadden             Habakkuk is really having a bad day.  The poor guy faces violence and destruction and he yells out to God:  “I cry for help but you do not listen!  Why must I look…

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  • Who’s on your Doorstep?

    26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); September 25,  2022 Am 6:1a,4-7.  Ps 146.  1 Tm 6:11-16.  Lk 16:19-31 Deacon Jim McFadden             Today’s Responsorial Psalm reminds us that God, “the maker of heaven and earth,” upholds the anawim, Old Testament code for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan—the most marginalized  in a kinfolk society. …

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  • Transform Goods and Wealth into Relationships

    25th  Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); September 18, 2022 Am 8:4-7.  Ps 113.  1 Tm 2:1-8.  Lk 16:1-13 Deacon Jim McFadden        The parable in this Sunday’s Gospel passage (Lk 16:1-13) involves a shrewd, albeit dishonest steward who, charged with wasting his master’s goods, is about to be fired.  He’s prepared to do anything to…

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  • Jesus Welcomes Only Sinners

    24th Sunday in Ordinary Time; September 11, 2022 Ex 32:7-11,13-14.  Ps 51.  1 Tim 1:12-17.  Lk 15:1-32 Deacon Jim McFadden             Today’s Gospel passage (Lk 15:1-32) begins with several people criticizing Jesus for hanging out with tax collectors and sinners and they scornfully say: “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (v. 2).  Well,…

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  • A New Consciousness

    Friday of the 22nd Second week in Ordinary Time (C) 1 Cor 4:1-5.   Ps 37.   Lk 5:33-39 Deacon Jim McFadden          Jesus’ parable of the the old wineskins/new wineskins is a call to metanoia, namely changing  of one’s mind from an egoic consciousness to one where  we interpret everything through the lens of Christ crucified. …

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  • The Demands of Discipleship

    23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); September 4, 2022 Wis 9:13-18b.  Ps 90.  Phlm 9:10,12-17.  Lk 14:25-33 Deacon Jim McFadden        Luke tells us that great crowds were following Jesus; he was a very popular man, a fascinating figure.  If Jesus were physically with us today, he’d be all over the Internet, the focus of…

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  • Addicted to Honor

       22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 28, 2022                   Sir 3:17-18, 20,28-29. Ps 68. Heb 12:18-19,22-24a. Lk 14:1.7-14 Deacon Jim McFadden          At the mid-point of the ‘90s blockbuster film Titanic, the Leonardo DiCaprio character, spread-eagled with his arms extended on the stern of the ship, boasts loudly, “I am the King of the…

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  • Jeremiah & Jesus: Causes for Division

    20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 14, 2022 Jer 38:4-6,8-10.  Ps 40   Heb 12:1-4.  Lk 12:49-53 Deacon Jim McFadden             In today’s first reading Jeremiah is in the middle of a national crisis, political power plays, and civic turmoil.  (I know, somethings just don’t change.)  Jeremiah has incurred the animosity of those in power…

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  • Who Is The Way To Salvation?

    21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 21, 2022 Is 66:18-21.  Ps 117.  Heb 12:5-7,11-13.  Lk 13:22-30 Deacon Jim McFadden        Nearly 20 years ago an inmate at Folsom Prison approached me and said, “Deacon, I came across a number in Scripture that says only  150,000 people are going to be saved.  If that’s so,…

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homilies

The cross is the way home

The Cross is the Way Home 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); August 30, 2026 Jer 20:7-9.  Ps 63.  Rom 12:1-2.  Mt 16:21-27 Deacon Jim McFadden After establishing Peter as the rock of his Church, Jesus then begins to speak…

“Who Do You say that i am?”

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); August 23, 2026 Is 22:19-23.  Ps 138.  Rom 11:33-36.  Mt 16:13-20 Deacon Jim McFadden Midway through his public ministry, Jesus ventured with his disciples to the northern reaches of the Promised Land, to the…

“Lord, Help Me”

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); August 16, 2026 Is 56:1,6-7.  Ps 67.  Rom 11:13-15,29-32.  Mt 15:21-28 Deacon Jim McFadden          Today’s Gospel (Mt 15:21-28) presents us with a unique example of faith in Jesus’s encounter with a Canaanite woman,…