The cross is the way home
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…
Category: Homilies
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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, 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 8, 2026 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); February 1, 2026 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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The Light that Radiates from the Periphery
3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); January 25, 2026 Is 8:23-9:3. Ps 27. 1 Cor 1:10-13,17. Mt 4:12-23 Deacon Jim McFadden Usually, Catholic homilists dive right into the Gospel to unpack its meaning for the community. What I’d like to do is to reflect upon our first reading, which is the take-off point for…
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Our Leader is a Lamb
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); January 18, 2026 Is 49:3,5-6 Ps 40 1 Cor 1:1-3 Jn 1:29-34 Deacon Jim McFadden Ever since we were kids, we’ve learned to follow the leader. As children, the leader makes a simple challenge: “can you do what I can do?” As we get older following the leader can…
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“The Heavens Were Opened”
THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD (A); January 11, 2026 Is 42:1-4,6-7. Ps 29. Acts 10:34-38. Mt 3:13-17 Deacon Jim McFadden Today we are celebrating the Baptism of our Lord Jesus. Baptisms have a special place in my heart as it is one of my cherished ministries as a deacon. Many years ago on a…
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Am I a Christian Who Worships?
The Epiphany of the Lord (A); January 4, 2026 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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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 of Nazareth. We are very accustomed that every nativity scene shows the infant Jesus together…
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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 he is the great I AM. The Psalmist wondered the same thing, when he intoned,…
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HERE I AM
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception; 12-08-2025 Gn 3:9-15,20. Ps 98. Eph 1:3-6,11-12. Lk 1:26-38 Deacon Jim McFadden Today’s readings present us a stark choice. In the first reading from the book of Genesis, there is a man, who, at the very beginning of his origins, says “no” to God. And, in the Gospel reading…
homilies
“Who Do You say that i am?”
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…
“Lord, Help Me”
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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