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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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,…