Mary Kept and Pondered
Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, January 1, 2026 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…
Category: Homilies
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Don’t Be Afraid of the Cross
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 8-30-20 Jer 20:7-9. Ps 63. Rom 12:1-2 Mt 16:21-27 Deacon Jim McFadden Today’s Gospel passage challenges us to make an either or choice: our life is either about ourselves or its about God. The choice is primordial, which Jesus encountered in his third temptation when Satan promised
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God’s Great Gamble
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 8-23-20 Is 22:19-23. Ps 138. Rom 11:33-36. Mt 16:13-20 Deacon Jim McFadden St. Paul reminds us in the second reading, in case we should ever forget, that “How inscrutable are (God’s) judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom 11:33b). And, he underscores that truth with an exclamation
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“Lord, Help Me”
Today’s Gospel (Mt 15:21-28) presents us with a unique example of faith in Jesus’s encounter with a Canaanite woman, a foreigner to the Jews. The scene unfolds as Jesus leaves God’s own holy land and enters pagan territory where he encounters the woman who comes to Jesus and calls out: “Have pity on me, Lord,
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“Come to the Quiet”
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); Aug. 9, 2020 1 Kgs 19:9-13a. Ps 85. Rom 9:1-5. Mt 13:22-33 Deacon Jim McFadden The French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, once said that the reason there is so much evil in the world is that a person cannot go into one’s study and be still
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Jesus Always Thinks of Others
18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); 9-2-20 Is 55:1-3 Ps 145 Rom 8:35,37-39 Mt 14:13-21 Deacon Jim McFadden During this unprecedented time of pandemic, we hear the refrain, “We’re all in this together.” Yes, we’re all being battered one way or another, which offers a modicum of comfort: misery loves company, I suppose.
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Just One Thing
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); July 26, 2020 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—a “been there, done that” type
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The Problem of Evil
16th Sunday in O.T. (A); July 19, 2020 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’s use of parables to announce the Kingdom of God to the crowds. This one in today’s Gospel is a rather perplexing one: in the
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Jesus is the Sower
15th Sunday in O.T.; July 12, 2020 Is 55:10-11. Ps 65. Rom 8:18-23. Mt 13:1-23 Deacon Jim McFadden Today’s Gospel is about the parable of the Sower, which has been painted by a number of artists, most notably Vincent Van Gogh. As you reflect upon the parable, I’d encourage you to have Van Gogh’s
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The Eucharist: The Sacrament of Memory
Corpus Christi Sunday (A); June 14, 2020 Dt 8:2-3,14-16 Ps 147 1 Cor 10:16-17 Jn 6:51-58 Deacon Jim McFadden On this Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the idea of memory comes up frequently in our readings. This is a good thing because when we remember who God is, who we are, our relationship to
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The Center Cannot Hold…Without God
The Most Holy Trinity (A); June 7, 2020 Ex 34:4-9 Dn 3 2 Cor 13:11-13 Jn 3:16-18 Deacon Jim McFadden Three months into the pandemic with its attendant economic contraction not seen since the Great Depression, we watched in horror as another black person, George Floyd, had his life taken from him in another
homilies
The Holy Family Were Refugees
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph; 12-28-2025 Sir 3:2-6. Ps 128. Col 3:12-21. Mt 2:13-15, 19-21 Deacon Jim McFadden On this first Sunday after Christmas, the Liturgy invites us to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family…
a God who gathers
Christmas (A) ; 12-25-2025 Is 52:1-7. Ps 97. Heb 1:1-6 . Jn 1:1-18 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…
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