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…
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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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Mary Kept and Pondered
Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, January 1, 2026 Nm 6:22-27. Gal 4:4-7. Lk 2:16-21 Deacon Jim McFadden There is an old tradition that Luke the evangelist knew the Blessed Mother and he wove her memories into his Gospel account. This view resonates because he presents the Annunciation, the birth and infancy of…
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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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History is Going Somewhere and it rhymes
4th Sunday of Advent (A); December 21, 2025 Is 7:10-14. Ps 24. Rom 1:1-7. Mt 1:18-24 Deacon Jim McFadden As we enter into the 4th Sunday of Advent, let us remember that salvation history has a trajectory which comes to fulfillment in the Messiah. All the fragments of history are gathered together in him. …
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god always astonishes
3rd Sunday of Advent (A); December 14, 2025 Is 35:1-6a,10. Ps 146. Js 7:5-10. Mt 11:2-11 Deacon Jim McFadden Our Gospel for the 3rd Sunday of Advent is taken from the 11th chapter of Matthew, where we’re moving right in to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, which occurs in the middle of Matthew’s Gospel. …
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waiting for the lord
All Souls Day; November 2, 2025 Wis 3:1-9. Ps 23. Rom 5:5-11 Jn 6:37-40 Deacon Jim McFadden The Psalmist has a beautiful refrain when he writes, “I wait with longing for the Lord, my soul waits for his word. My soul looks for the Lord more than sentinels for daybreak” (Ps 130:5-6). When you…
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addicted to honor
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 31, 2025 Sir 3:17-18, 20,28-29. Ps 68. Heb 12:18-19,22-24a. Lk 14:1.7-14 Deacon Jim McFadden At the mid-point of the ‘90s blockbuster film Titanic, the Leonardo DiCaprio character, spread-eagled with his arms extended on the stern of the ship, boasts loudly, “I am the King of the World!”…
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Who Is The Way To Salvation?
21 st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 24, 2025Is 66:18-21. Ps 117. Heb 12:5-7,11-13. Lk 13:22-30 Deacon Jim McFadden Nearly 20 years ago an inmate at Folsom Prison approached me and said, “Deacon, I came across a number in Scripture that says only 150,000 people are going to be saved. If that’s so, I…
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Greed is not good!
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); August 3, 2025 Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23. Ps 95. Col 3:1-5,9-11. Lk 12:13-21 Deacon Jim McFadden Twenty years ago Oliver Stone directed the movie Wall Street (2005) in which the main character Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, intoned the famous line “Greed is good!” as he was immersed…
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Is God the Father a Man?
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); 7-27-2025 Gn 18:20-32. Ps 138. Col 2:12-14. Lk 11:1-13 Deacon Jim McFadden The Our Father is probably the prayer most often prayed throughout the world. Within the Catholic Church, it is prayed twice during the Liturgy of the Hours—at Lauds and Vespers—which doesn’t include being recited at Holy…
homilies
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,…
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