Category: Homilies

  • Do We Hear the Word of God?

    23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); September 8, 2024 Is 35:4-7a.  Ps 146.  Jas 2:1-5.  Mk 7:31-37 Deacon Jim McFadden             In this Sunday’s Gospel passage (Mk 7:31-37), we have the episode of the miraculous healing by Jesus of a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment.  The evangelist Mark begins his narrative…

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  • Faith that Touches the Heart

    22nd Sunday in O.T.  (B); August 31-September 1, 2024 Dt. 4:1-2,6-8.  Ps 15.  Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27.  Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Deacon Jim McFadden        In the beginning of my teaching career, I worked with a dear colleague, a consecrated religious sister who had a huge sign that went from end of the classroom to…

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  • “Master, to whom shall we go?

    21st Sunday in O.T. (B); August 25, 2024 Jos 24:1-2a,15-17b,18b.  Ps 34.  Eph 5:21-32.  Jn 6:60-69 Deacon Jim McFadden             Today, we bring to closure our extraordinary Eucharistic discourse, which has been our focus for the last several weeks as we’ve pondered the precious revelation of the sixth chapter of John’s gospel.  Previously, Jesus had…

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  • The Incarnation and The Eucharist

    20th Sunday of O.T. (B); August 18, 2024 Prv 9:1-6 Ps 34 Eph 5:15-20 Jn 6:51-58 Deacon Jim McFadden  Today’s Gospel (Jn 6:51-58) is in many ways the climax of the discourse given by Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum after he had fed thousands of people with the five loaves and two fishes the…

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  • Encounter and Transformation

    19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); August 11, 2024 1 Kgs 19:4-8.  Ps 34.  Eph 4:30-5:2.  Jn 6:41-51 Deacon Jim McFadden        God is always present, always available which we’re reminded in Deuteronomy 4: “For what great nation is there that has gods to close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us…

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  • Why Do We Seek Jesus?

    18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); August 4, 2024 Ex 16:2-4,12-15.  Ps 78.  Eph 4:17,20-24.  Jn 6:24:35 Deacon Jim McFadden        This Sunday we continue our reflection on the 6th chapter of John’s gospel.  After the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the people went in search of Jesus.  At first blush, that seems like…

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  • Grace Overflows

    17th Sunday in O.T. (B); July 28, 2024 2 Kgs 4:42-44.  Ps 145.  Eph 4:1-6.  Jn 6:1-15 Deacon Jim McFadden             In early June we celebrated Corpus Christi Sunday—The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  The Church re-visits the meaning of the Holy Mass and the Eucharist by re-reading the sixth chapter of John’s…

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  • Jesus: the Compassionate Redeemer

    16th Sunday in O.T. (B); July 21, 2024 Jer 23:1-6.  Ps 23.  Eph 2:13-18.  Mk 6:30-34 Deacon Jim McFadden             Mark’s gospel, the first written during the reign of Emperor Nero, is the shortest of all the Gospel accounts consisting of just 16 chapters.  There is very little teaching like we see in Matthew’s gospel…

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  • Messengers of the Kingdom of God

    15th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B); July 14, 2024 Am 7:12-15.  Ps 85.  Eph 1:3-15.  Mk 6:7-13 Deacon Jim McFadden        When medical students graduate, they just don’t’ start practicing medicine, but they’ve got to go through a rigorous internship in which they get to practice the knowledge they acquired in medical school and apply…

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  • Familiarity Breeds Contempt

    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); July 7, 2024 Ez 2:2-5.  Ps 123.  2 Cor 12:7-10.  Mk 6:1-6a Deacon Jim McFadden             One of Mark Twain’s memorable lines was “Familiarity breeds contempt…and children.”  While we know a lot about the process by which familiarity produces children, we’re a lot less informed how it produces contempt.…

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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…

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,…