The Resurrection of our Lord; Easter Sunday (B) Acts 10:34,37-43. Ps 18 Col 3:1-4. Jn 10:1-9 Deacon Jim McFadden Today we celebrate with utter joy the Resurrection of Jesus. The Resurrection confirms that Jesus is truly the son of God, that His love for us has no limits, and that He is God among his…
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (B) Palm Sunday is the great doorway leading into Holy Week—the week in which the Lord Jesus makes his way to the culmination of his earthly existence. He goes to Jerusalem, where he will fulfill the promises of the Messianic hope, but will do so in…
5th Sunday of Lent (B); 3-21-2021 Jer 31:31-34. Ps 51. Heb 5:7-9. Jn 12:20-33 Deacon Jim McFadden As Lent comes to closure, the Church gives us an extraordinary text for our meditation: Jeremiah 31:31ff which reads, “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of…
4th Sunday of Lent (B); 3-14-2021 2 Chr 36:14-16,19-23. Ps 137. Eph 2:4-10. Jn 3:14-21 Deacon Jim McFadden Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent, a.k.a. “Laetare”, that is, “rejoice,” because the opening antiphon of the Eucharistic liturgy invites us to that joy: “Rejoice, Jerusalem—“Be joyful, all who were in mourning.” This is how…
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 9-20-2020 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…
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 9-13-20 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…
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 9-6-20 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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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,…
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