God proposes: he doesn’t impose
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); October 11, 2026 Is 25:6-10a. Ps 23. Phil 4:12-20. Mt 22:1-14 Deacon Jim McFadden The parable we hear in today’s Gospel tells us a lot about the Kingdom of God, which is likened…
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waiting in the silence
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); October 5, 2025 Hb 1:2-3; 2:3-4. Ps 95. 2 Tm 1:6-8,13-14. Lk 17:5-10 Deacon Jim McFadden The prophetHabakkuk is having a really bad day. His life and that of is historical situation is falling apart with political intrigue, rampant idolatry that once again had engulfed the small kingdom…
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Who is on your doorstep?
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); September 28, 2025 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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what’s your plan?
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); September 21, 2025 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 is about a shrewd, dishonest steward, who was charged to watch after his master’s goods, but instead ripped him off by squandering his property. He is about…
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why did the father permit the crucifixion?
The Exaltation of the Cross; September 14, 2025 Nm 21:4b-9. Ps 78. Phil 2:6-11. Jn 3:131-7 Deacon Jim McFadden In 1988 there was a beautifully crafted drama film about twin brothers, Dominick and Eugene. Dominick played by Tom Hulce just off his sterling performance in Amadeus, has an intellectual disability due to an accident…
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your true companion
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A slap in the face
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); Sept. 7, 2025 Wis 9:13-18b. Ps 90. Phlm 9:10,12-17. Lk 14:25-33 Deacon Jim McFadden This Sunday’s Gospel from Luke is really hard to take. Jesus—the one we associate with love fully incarnate—is telling the crowd, is telling us, that we must hate people. Not just anyone, but our…
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addicted to honor
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 31, 2025 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 World!”…
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Jeremiah and Jesus: Cause for Division
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 17, 2025 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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Fear not and be Vigilant!
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 10, 2025 Wis 18:6-9. Ps 33. Heb 11:1-2,8-19. Lk 12:32-48 Deacon Jim McFadden Many of our Gospel readings this summer have been about the Call to Discipleship, which necessarily flows from our Baptism. Today’s passage notes that once we’ve made the transition from the Ego-drama (my…
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Greed is not good!
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 3, 2025 Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23. Ps 95. Col 3:1-5,9-11. Lk 12:13-21 Deacon Jim McFadden Twenty years ago Oliver Stone directed the movie Wall Street (2005) in which the main character Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, intoned the famous line “Greed is good!” as he was immersed…
homilies
The wicked tenants: Ungrateful and greedy
27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); October 4, 2026 Is 5:1-7. Ps 80. Phil 4:6-9. Mt 21:33-43 Deacon Jim McFadden The parable about the mismanagement of the vineyard tells us a lot about the Kingdom of God, the choices we…
the road home
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); September 27, 2026 Ez 18:25-28. Ps 25. Phil 2:1-11. Mt 21:28-3 Deacon Jim McFadden In a past issue of the Catholic Herald (September/October 2020), the newsmagazine for the Diocese of Sacramento, there is a…
