Category: Homilies

  • Astonishment and Anxiety

    Do I experience both in relationship to Jesus? The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (C); 12-29-24 Sir 3:2-6,12-14.  Ps 128.  Col 3:12-21.  Lk 2:41-52 Deacon Jim McFadden Today we are celebrating The Feast of the Holy Family, which invites us to reflect on the experience of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, united by the…

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  • A God Who Gathers

    Christmas (C) ; 12-25-2024 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…

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  • Let’s Dance!

    4th Sunday of Advent (C); 12-22-2024 Mi 5:1-4a. Ps 80. Heb 10:5-10. Lk 1:39-45 Deacon Jim McFadden The Old Testament foretells the Good News of salvation history which is fulfilled in the New Testament. It’s important to keep in mind that the Gospel writers did not write in a linear fashion, but more in a…

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  • What Shall We Do?

    Third Sunday of Advent (C); December 15, 2024 Zep 3:14-18a.  (Ps) Is 12.  Phil 4:4-7.  Lk 3:10-18 Deacon Jim McFadden             Last Sunday, John the Baptist, the precursor to the Messiah, called us to repentance, to conversion which is a necessary condition if we are to receive the Good News.  Continuing the 3rd chapter of…

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  • No Half Measures

    2nd Sunday of Advent (C); December 8, 2024 Bar 5:1-9.  Ps 126.  Phil 1:4-6,8-11.  Lk 3:1-6 Deacon Jim McFadden             The beginning of Luke’s gospel chapter 3 seems a bit pedestrian.  As we plow through all the details of rulers and their territories, we feel a bit impatient with all this historical detail.    If Luke…

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  • The Lord is Coming!

    1st Sunday of Advent (C); December 1, 2024 Jer 33:14-16.  Ps 25.  1 Thes 3:12-4:2.  Lk 21:25-28,34-36 Deacon Jim McFadden        There is much anticipation in the air.  At the start of a new liturgical year, Advent begins as we eagerly await the Christ child among us and all the blessings and transformations that this…

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  • Who Are You Going To Serve?

    The Solemnity of Christ the King (B); 11-24-2024 Dn 7:13-14.  Ps 93.  Rv 1:5-8.  Jn 18:33-37 Deacon Jim McFadden             The last Sunday of the Liturgical Year ends with the affirmation by Jesus who says, “I am a king” (Jn 18:37).  He utters these words in front of Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator of Palestine,…

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  • The Definitive Encounter with God

    33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); 11-17-2024 Dn 12:1-3.  Ps 16.  Heb 10:11-14,18.  Mk 13:24-32 Deacon Jim McFadden          Many decades ago as a graduate student at Tulane University in New Orleans, I was out for an evening jog in the grassy area near the dorms.  Behind me, I hear this abrupt command: “Stop where…

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  • The Poor Widow Gave Everything She Has

    32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) November 10, 2024 1 Kgs 17:10-16.  Ps 146.  Heb 9:24-28.  Mk 12:38-44 Deacon Jim McFadden             The scene in today’s Gospel takes place inside the Temple of Jerusalem, where Jesus is looking at what’s happening in this most sacred place in Judaism, where heaven and earth are supposed to…

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  • The Word of the Lord Must Resonate within Us

    31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); November 3, 2024 Dt 6:2-6.  Ps 18.  Heb 7:23-28.  Mk 12:28-34 Deacon Jim McFadden        Mark’s gospel, the first written  in the mid-60s,  is the shortest of the four gospels consisting of only 16 chapters and is one of breath-taking action after another.   As such, not a word, sentence,…

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homilies

mulder and Thomas

Divine Mercy Sunday (A); April 12, 2026 Acts 2:42-47.  Ps 118.  1 Pt 1:3-9.  Jn 20:19-31 Deacon Jim McFadden             During the ‘90s, a popular, albeit off-beat television show was the X-Files, featuring agent Fox Mulder, an investigator of the…

A Different dawn

Easter Sunday: The Resurrection of Our Lord; 4-06-2026 Acts 10:334,37-43. Ps 118. Col 3:1-4. Jn 20:1-9 Deacon Jim McFadden Today we are celebrating the apex of the liturgical calendar; indeed, it is the nucleus of our Faith: The Resurrection of…

The cross: A sneak preview

Good Friday: The Passion of the Lord (A); 2026 Deacon Jim McFadden Can you imagine was must have transpired in Hell when  Jesus  died on the Cross? No doubt some serious infernal celebration must have erupted when the Son of…