Category: Homilies

  • 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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  • Jesus is the Wellspring of Life

    13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); 6-30-2024 Wis 1:13-15,2:23-24.  Ps 30.  2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15.  Mk 5:21-43 Deacon Jim McFadden             Today’s Gospel from Mark presents a beautifully crafted narrative, involving two miracles performed by Jesus, describing them as a march towards life.  Initially the Evangelist speaks about a certain Jarius, the leader of the local…

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  • To Weather the Storm

    12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); June 23, 2024 Job 38:1,8-11.  Ps 107.  2 Cor 5:14-17.  Mk 4:35-41 Deacon Jim McFadden          There is a problem-solving stratagem that is often used by corporate America, educational institutions, etc. to ameliorate corporate problems, first by  describing them, analyzing  how they got embedded in the culture,  and what…

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  • Do We Walk by Faith?

    11th Sunday of O.T. (B); June 16th, 2024 Ez 17:22-24.  Ps 92.  2 Cor 5:6-10.  Mk 4:26-34 Deacon Jim McFadden          The recent storm that hit Houston left thousands of residents without power underscored that we live in a world where more and more of our devices require charging and concomitantly we have become so…

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  • “Who told you that you were naked?”

    Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); June 9, 2024 Gn 3:9-15.  Ps 130.  2 Cor 4:13-5:1.   Mk 3:20-35 Deacon Jim McFadden             There was once a young boy sitting on the bench during a Little League baseball game just itching to play. Feeling a bit forlorn,  he spoke to his manager and wondered, “Coach, why …

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  • The Eucharist and the Poor

    The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ; 6-2-2024 Ex 24:3-8.  Ps 116.  Heb 9:11-15.  Mk 14:12-16,22-26 Deacon Jim McFadden             Most of us are aware that under the direction of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, that the National Eucharistic Revival  will culminate in July in Indianapolis.  Our diocese was part of that Pilgrimage…

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homilies

Mary, Mother of the Church

Monday after Pentecost Gen 3:9-15,20.  Ps 87.  Jn 19:25-34 Deacon Jim McFadden          As Vatican II was coming to a close, St. Pope Paul VI bestowed upon Mary the title of Mother of the Church, which is celebrated on the…

the other guy

Pentecost Sunday (A); May 24, 2026 Acts 2:1-11.  Ps 104.  1 Cor 12:3-7,12-13.  Jn 20:19-23 Deacon Jim McFadden        When I was a boy in the very distant past,  the 3rd Person of the Trinity was referred to as the…

our faith is increased by the Lord’s Ascension

Ascension of the Lord (A); May 17, 2026 Acts 1:1-11 Ps47 Eph 1:7-23 Mt 28:16-20 Deacon Jim McFadden For the last two Sundays, we reflected upon Jesus Farewell Discourse which was his last will and testament; there, the nucleus of…