Don’t Talk to the Divider!
1st Sunday of Lent (A); February 22, 2026 Gn 2:7-9, 3:1-7. Ps 51. Rom 5:12-19. Mt 4:1-11 Deacon Jim McFadden Each year, the Gospel of the 1st Sunday of Lent presents us with the narrative of Jesus in the…
Category: Homilies
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No Unemployed in Heaven!
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 9-24-2023 Is 55:6-9. Ps 145. Phil 1:20c-24. Mt 20:1-16a Deacon Jim McFadden Sometimes Jesus just doesn’t seem fair. The parable of the Day Laborers evokes the sense of getting ripped off. That’s why it’s probably the least liked parable that Jesus ever told because it offends our sense of…
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The Third Way: Forgiving Others
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); September 17, 2023 Sir 27:30-28:7. Ps 103. Rom 14:7-9. Mt 18:21-35 Deacon Jim McFadden Last week’s readings spoke of reconciliation. This week we consider the same theme, but from the perspective of forgiveness. We all know how difficult it is to swallow our pride and say that we’re sorry…
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Fraternal Correction Fosters Christian Community
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); September 10, 2023 Ez 13:8-10. Ps 95. Rom 13:8-10. Mt 18:15-20 Deacon Jim McFadden If there is one absolute in our secular culture today is non-judgmentalism. That basis of that implicit bias is that there are no universal, absolute, objective standards that apply to all people at all times…
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The Cross is the Way Home
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); September 3, 2023 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 to his disciples about his Passion. Along the path to Jerusalem , he openly explains to his friends what awaits him…
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“Who do you say that I am?”
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); August 27, 2023 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 region of Caesarea-Philippi, near the present-day Golan Heights, and there he poses a most…
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“Come to the Quiet”
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time; August 13, 2023 1 Kgs 19:9-13a. Ps 85. Rom 9:1-5. Mt 14:22-33 Deacon Jim McFadden 43 years ago John Michael Talbot released a remarkable faith-filled album, Come to the Quiet, which was a collection of serene meditations, focusing primarily on the Psalms, one of which was Psalm 131. We…
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“Lord, help me.”
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); August 20, 2023 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’ encounter with a Canaanite woman, a foreigner to the Jews. The scene unfolds as Jesus leaves God’s holy land and…
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Seeing the World in a New Light
The Transfiguration of the Lord; August 6, 2023 Dn 7:9-10,13-14. Ps 97. 2 Pt 1:16-19. Mt 17:1-9 Deacon Jim McFadden It always struck me as ironic that the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was on Transfiguration Sunday. Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer deals with the real-world consequences brought about by…
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Just One Thing
17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); July 30, 2023 1 Kgs 3:5,7-12. Ps 119. Rom 8:28-30. Mt 13:44-52 Deacon Jim McFadden The Christian existentialist Soren Kierkegaard once said, “The saint’s life is about one thing.” The Dane didn’t mean that a saint’s life would be a monotonous existence; rather, he meant that a truly…
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The Problem of Evil
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); July 23, 2023 Wis 12:13,16-19 Ps 86 Rom 8:26-27 Mt 13:24-43 Deacon Jim McFadden The parable of the weeds among the wheat continues Jesus’ use of parables to announce the Kingdom of God to the crowds. Among those in today’s Gospel, there is a rather perplexing one: in the…
homilies
Ash Wednesday: A Time for pruning
Jl 2:12-18. Ps 51. 2 Cor 5:20-6:2. Mt 6:1-6, 16-18 Deacon Jim McFadden People of God, we come once again, to that great season of Lent, which is a great opportunity to prune away falseness, superficiality, and indifference to…
Respect a Person’s Dignity!
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); February 15, 2026 Sir 15:15-20. Ps 119. 1 Cor 2:6-10. Mt 5:17-37 Deacon Jim McFadden It can begin with the smallest gesture: an interested glance across a classroom, the brushing of a hand,…
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