• addicted to honor

    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

    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!

    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!

    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…

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  • Jesus is Present in a New Way

    Jesus is Present in a New Way

    The Ascension of the Lord; June 1, 2025 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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  • Holiness is always “original”

    5th Sunday of Easter (C); May 18, 2025 Acts 14:21-27.  Ps 145.  Rv 21:1-5.  Jn 13:31-35 Deacon Jim McFadden             A former teaching colleague of mine, a consecrated religious, had a sign in her classroom which blasted: “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”  That raises…

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  • The True Shepherd Who Always Stays With Us

    Fourth Sunday of Easter (C); May 11, 2025 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, our Lord Jesus is presented to us as the true shepherd of the People of God.  As such, the relationship that binds Jesus to us, the sheep of his flock,…

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  • “Do You Love Me?”

    3rd Sunday of Easter (C); May 4, 2025 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 pages of John’s Gospel which recounts the third time the Risen Christ appears to the Apostles.  It is a meeting that takes place in the Sea of Tiberius (aka…

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  • The Source of our Joy

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  • Overcoming Fear Leads to Mission

    Divine Mercy Sunday (C); April 26, 2025 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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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,…