• The Logic of Welcoming Love

    6th Sunday of Easter (C); May 22, 2022 Acts 15:1-2, 22-29.  Ps 67.  Rv 21:10-14.  Jn 14:23-29 Deacon Jim McFadden          In today’s Gospel, we heard a passage from Jesus’ farewell discourses.  Our Lord is giving his last thoughts as a spiritual guide to the Apostles before he enters his Passion and Death.  Today’s reading…

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  • Jesus is Present in a New Way

    The Ascension of the Lord; May 29, 2022 Acts 1:1-11.  Ps 47.  Eph 1:17-23.  Lk 24:46-53 Deacon Jim McFadden          Today we are celebrating the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, which occurred 40 days after the Resurrection and is the culmination of the Easter season in which Jesus is “lifted up” to full participation in…

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  • Love Overcomes Barriers

    5th Sunday of Easter (C); May 15, 2022 Acts 14:21-27.  Ps 145.  Rv 21:1-5.  Jn 13:31-35 Deacon Jim McFadden             Near the end of the mesmerizing German film Downfall (2005), as Soviet troops close in on Berlin, the focus of the film shifts from the battlefield to the Fuhrer’s secret underground office, where Hitler and…

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  • The Risen Christ calls and loves

    3rd Sunday of Easter (C); May 1, 2022 Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41.  Ps 30.  Rv 5:11-14.  Jn 21:1-19 Deacon Jim McFadden             We continue to read from the final pages of John’s Gospel which deal with the Resurrection appearances of Jesus.  As we reflect upon them, let us immerse ourselves in the joy of the Lord’s…

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  • The True Shepherd: He knows us…

    He Knows us and We Know Him 4th Sunday of Easter (C); May 8, 2022 Acts 13:14,43-52.  Ps 100.   Rv 7:9,14b-17.  Jn 10:27-30 Deacon Jim McFadden             In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus is presented to us as the true Shepherd of the people of God, who is the Church.  As such, the relationship that…

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  • School Liturgy: Anastasis!

             Troubies, when St. Paul entered the seaport  city of  Corinth to proclaim the Good News, he didn’t say, “Hey, let me tell you about this dead carpenter from Nazareth, who had some cool moral insights that I think you’d like.” NO!  Instead he busted into the city square and bellowed in Greek,  “Anastasis! Anastasis!…

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  • Overcoming Fear Leads to Mission

    Divine Mercy Sunday (C); April 24, 2022 Acts 5:12-16   Ps 118 Rv 1:9-13,17-19.  Jn 20:19-31 Deacon Jim McFadden             Jesus is Risen!  What a joy to proclaim this wonderful message—one that is the ultimate “game changer”!  The Resurrection is THE pivotal moment in all of Salvation History.  Everything has changed; everything is relative to this…

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  • Anastasis! He is Risen, He is Alive

    Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord Acts 10:34a,37-43.  Ps 118.  Col 3:1-4.  Jn 20:1-9 Deacon Jim McFadden        Today we are celebrating the apex of the liturgical calendar: The Resurrection of the Lord.  Even though it is the pivotal event of our Faith, we are so familiar with this solemnity, that we may…

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  • The Path of Patient Suffering

    Palm Sunday; 6th Sunday of Lent (C); April 10, 2022 Is 50:4-7.  Ps 22.  Phil 2:6-11.  Lk 22:14-23:56 Deacon Jim McFadden             In our Gospel reading for the Palm Sunday procession, Jesus sends his disciples into Jerusalem to prepare for his triumphal entry.  As he enters Jesus will be greeted with joyful acclimations as the…

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  • Mercy with Misery

    The Woman Caught in Adultery 5th Sunday of Lent (C); April 3, 2022 Is 43:16-21.  Ps 126.  Phil 3:8-14.  Jn 8:1-11 Deacon Jim McFadden             Today we have another richly textured and challenging Lenten reading. This week we have the story of the woman caught in adultery from John’s Gospel—a tale that has beguiled Christians…

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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,…