listen!
2nd Sunday of Lent (A); March 1, 2026 Gen 12:1-4a. Ps 33. 2 Tim 1:8b-10. Mt 17:1-9 Deacon Jim McFadden Our magnificent first reading is a short passage from the beginning of the 12th chapter of the book of…
Category: Homilies
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How to Deal with Temptation
1st Sunday of Lent (A); February 26, 2023 Gn 2:7-9, 3:1-7. Ps 51. Rom 5:12-19. Mt 4:1-11 Deacon Jim McFadden Each year, the first reading and the Gospel of the First Sunday of Lent set before us the narrative of how to respond to temptation. What we see at the beginning of the Creation…
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Love of Enemies: A Christian Revolution
7th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); February 19th, 2023 Lv 19:1-2,17-18. Ps 103. 1 Cor 3:16-23. Mt 5:38-48 Deacon Jim McFadden Last Sunday we reflected how Jesus instructed his disciples on the Sermon of the Mount to watch over little things that undermine our love relationships. Today, he goes further by calling us to…
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Respect a Person’s Dignity!
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); February 12, 2023 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, asking for that first date when your stomach is in a knot. Lifelong love builds…
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The World REALLY Needs us to be Light and Salt!
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); February 5, 2023 Is 58:7-10. Ps 112. 1 Cor 2:1-5. Mt 5:13-16 Deacon Jim McFadden The Sundays leading up to Lent, the liturgy offers us teachings from the Sermon of the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. The Beatitudes launch the Sermon, providing the structure for subsequent teachings,…
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The Eucharist: Happiness Now!
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); January 29, 2023 Zep 2:3; 3:12-13. Ps 146. 1 Cor 1:26-31. Mt 5:1-12 Deacon Jim McFadden In Charles Dickens’ famous tale A Christmas Carol, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his partner, Jacob Marley, and is then shown three ghostly scenes…
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Am I a Christian Who Worships?
The Epiphany of the Lord (A); January 8, 2023 Is 60:1-6. Ps 72. Eph 3:2-3. Mt 2:1-12 Deacon Jim McFadden “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we have observed his star in the East, and have come to worship him” (Mt 2:2). These men, traditionally described as…
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Mary Kept and Pondered
Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, 1-1-23 Nm 6:22-27. Gal 4:4-7. Lk 2:16-21 Deacon Jim McFadden There is an old tradition that Luke the evangelist knew the Blessed Mother and he wove her memories into his Gospel account. This view resonates because he presents the Annunciation, the birth and infancy of Jesus from…
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A God Who Gathers
Christmas (A); 12-25-2021 Is 9:1-6. Ps 96. Ti 2:11-14. Lk 2:1-14 Deacon Jim McFadden Christmas celebrates God’s overwhelming desire to be united with us. Sometimes we wonder, why does he bother? He’s perfect—he doesn’t need anything since he is the great I AM. The Psalmist wondered the same thing, when he intoned, “What are…
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History is Going Somewhere and It Rhymes
4th Sunday of Advent (A); December 18, 2022 Is 7:10-14. Ps 24. Rom 1:1-7. Mt 1:18-24 Deacon Jim McFadden As we enter into the 4th Sunday of Advent, let us remember that salvation history has a trajectory which comes to fulfillment in the Messiah. All the fragments of history are gathered together in him. …
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“Tell John What You See and Hear”
3rd Sunday of Advent (A); December 11, 2022 Is 35:1-6a,10. Ps 146. Js 7:5-10. Mt 11:2-11 Deacon Jim McFadden Our Gospel for the 3rd Sunday of Advent is taken from the 11th chapter of Matthew, where we’re moving right into the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, which occurs in the middle of Matthew’s Gospel. So,…
homilies
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…
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…
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