Category: Uncategorized

  • mulder and Thomas

    mulder and Thomas

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    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 para-normal.  He had a poster in office of a UFO and the words “I want…

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  • holy thursday: It’s not about a bath!

    holy thursday: It’s not about a bath!

    Ex 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Jn 13:1-15 Deacon Jim McFadden Tonight is often called the feast of friends, the friends of God. Sounds good, but there’s a stark challenge: to be friends of God, we have to live a certain way. Along this theme, tonight is also a remembrance of Who God is and…

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  • Am I a Christian Who Worships?

    Am I a Christian Who Worships?

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    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

    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

    a God who gathers

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    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

    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

    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

    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

    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?

    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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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…