17th Sunday in O.T. (B); July 28, 2024 2 Kgs 4:42-44. Ps 145. Eph 4:1-6. Jn 6:1-15 Deacon Jim McFadden In early June we celebrated Corpus Christi Sunday—The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. The Church re-visits the meaning of the Holy Mass and the Eucharist by re-reading the sixth chapter of John’s…
16th Sunday in O.T. (B); July 21, 2024 Jer 23:1-6. Ps 23. Eph 2:13-18. Mk 6:30-34 Deacon Jim McFadden Mark’s gospel, the first written during the reign of Emperor Nero, is the shortest of all the Gospel accounts consisting of just 16 chapters. There is very little teaching like we see in Matthew’s gospel…
15th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B); July 14, 2024 Am 7:12-15. Ps 85. Eph 1:3-15. Mk 6:7-13 Deacon Jim McFadden When medical students graduate, they just don’t’ start practicing medicine, but they’ve got to go through a rigorous internship in which they get to practice the knowledge they acquired in medical school and apply…
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); July 7, 2024 Ez 2:2-5. Ps 123. 2 Cor 12:7-10. Mk 6:1-6a Deacon Jim McFadden One of Mark Twain’s memorable lines was “Familiarity breeds contempt…and children.” While we know a lot about the process by which familiarity produces children, we’re a lot less informed how it produces contempt.…
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); 6-30-2024 Wis 1:13-15,2:23-24. Ps 30. 2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15. Mk 5:21-43 Deacon Jim McFadden Today’s Gospel from Mark presents a beautifully crafted narrative, involving two miracles performed by Jesus, describing them as a march towards life. Initially the Evangelist speaks about a certain Jarius, the leader of the local…
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); June 23, 2024 Job 38:1,8-11. Ps 107. 2 Cor 5:14-17. Mk 4:35-41 Deacon Jim McFadden There is a problem-solving stratagem that is often used by corporate America, educational institutions, etc. to ameliorate corporate problems, first by describing them, analyzing how they got embedded in the culture, and what…
11th Sunday of O.T. (B); June 16th, 2024 Ez 17:22-24. Ps 92. 2 Cor 5:6-10. Mk 4:26-34 Deacon Jim McFadden The recent storm that hit Houston left thousands of residents without power underscored that we live in a world where more and more of our devices require charging and concomitantly we have become so…
Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); June 9, 2024 Gn 3:9-15. Ps 130. 2 Cor 4:13-5:1. Mk 3:20-35 Deacon Jim McFadden There was once a young boy sitting on the bench during a Little League baseball game just itching to play. Feeling a bit forlorn, he spoke to his manager and wondered, “Coach, why …
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ; 6-2-2024 Ex 24:3-8. Ps 116. Heb 9:11-15. Mk 14:12-16,22-26 Deacon Jim McFadden Most of us are aware that under the direction of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, that the National Eucharistic Revival will culminate in July in Indianapolis. Our diocese was part of that Pilgrimage…
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (B); May 26, 2024 Dt 4:32-34. Ps 33. Rom 8:14-17. Mt 28:16-20 Deacon Jim McFadden In his Summa Theologica St. Thomas Aquinas claims that “it is impossible to believe explicitly in the mystery of Christ without faith in the Trinity.” The doctrine of the Trinity is what…
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…
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…
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…
