3rd Sunday of Lent (B); 3-7-2021 Ex 20:1-17.  Ps 19.  1 Cor 1:22-25.  Jn 2:13-25 Deacon Jim McFadden        In today’s Gospel, in the second chapter of John, Jesus goes to the temple in Jerusalem and finds merchants selling oxen, sheep, and doves to sacrifice   as well as money-changers sitting at their tables. Using a

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2nd Sunday of Lent (B); 2-28-2021 Gen 22:1-2,9a, 10-13.  Ps 116.  Rom 8:31b-6:34.  Mk 9:2-10 Deacon Jim McFadden             During the 2nd Sunday of Lent we come across a most troubling story in the first reading that is traditionally called the “Binding of Isaac.”  The story is terrible, not just because it involves human sacrifice,

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1st Sunday of Lent (B); 2-21-2021 Gn 9:8-15.  Ps 25.  1 Pet 3:18-22.  Mk 1:12-15 Deacon Jim McFadden             Each year the Church admonishes us to turn our faces once again to the mystery and heart of our faith: The Paschal Mystery of the living, dying, and rising of Jesus and our own living, dying,

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6th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B); February 14, 2021 Lv 13:1-2,44-46.  Ps 32.  1 Cor 10:31—11:1.  Mk 1:40-45 Deacon Jim McFadden             The last few Sundays, we have encountered Jesus, the Divine Physician of our bodies and souls.  He was sent into our world plagued by dissension, alienation, dysfunction, and social injustice of every sort—all

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5th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B); 2-7-2021 Job 7:1-7.  Ps 147.  1 Cor 9:16-23.  Mk 1:29-39 Deacon Jim McFadden             Pope Francis often describes the Church as a “field hospital” of wounded, broken, sinful people who are in need of healing.  While it is difficult to admit, all of us are spiritually sick who need

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4th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B); 1-31-2021 Dt 18:15-20.  Ps 95.  1 Cor 7:32-35.  Mk 1:21-28 Deacon Jim McFadden             This Sunday’s Gospel reading (cf. Mk 1:21-28) narrates the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in which he breaks into the world of illusion and of the demonic through his powerful word and deed.  Our world,

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3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); 1-24-2021 Jon 3:1-5,10.  Ps 25.  1 Cor 7:29-31.  Mk 1:14-21 Deacon Jim McFadden        Nearly twenty years ago, I was preparing an inmate at Folsom Minimum Security Facility for his confirmation on Christmas day, which was presided by then Auxiliary Bishop Richard Garcia (may he Rest in Peace).   He

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2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); 1-17-2021 1 Sam 3:3-10, 19.  Ps 42.  1 Cor 6:13-15, 17-20.  Jn 1:35-43 Deacon Jim McFadden             The spiritual writer and poet John O’Donohue once wrote, “When you listen with your soul, you come into rhythm and unity with the music of the universe” (Anam Cara—Spiritual Wisdom of the

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The Baptism of the Lord (B); 1-10-2021 Is 42: 1-4,6-7.  Ps 29.  Acts 10:34-38.  Mk 1:7-11 Deacon Jim McFadden             Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism, which also concludes the Christmas season.  Mark’s gospel describes what happens on the bank of the Jordan River.  At the time that John the Baptist

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