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…
Category: Uncategorized
-
The Messiah: the Things of God
24th Sunday in O.T. (B); 9-12-2021 Is 50:5-9a. Ps 116. Jas 2:14-18. Mk 8:27-35 Deacon Jim McFadden We know this scene well: Jesus is the area of Caesarea Philippi and asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mk 8:27). After the report of the common consensus, he probes further by asking…
-
The Eucharist: Food for the Journey
19th Sunday in O.T. (B); 8-8-2021 1 Kgs 19:4-8. Ps 34. Eph 4:30-5:2. Jn 6:41-51 Deacon Jim McFadden Homer’s Odyssey…Herman Melville’s Moby Dick…Jack Kerouac’s On the Road—all have something in common: as the main characters make their way through their respective narrative, they point to the journey of life and remind us that we…
-
Game On!
15th Sunday in O.T. (B); July 11, 2021 Am 7:12-15. Ps 85. Eph 1:3-15. Mk 6:7-13 Deacon Jim McFadden When college and NFL coaches prepare for the upcoming game, they just don’t wing it, especially if they want to keep their lucrative jobs! Rather, they develop very specific game-plans, working with their offensive and…
-
Do We Walk by Faith?
11th Sunday of O.T. (B); June 13th, 2021 Ez 17:22-24. Ps 92. 2 Cor 5:6-10. Mk 4:26-34 Deacon Jim McFadden The recent cyber- attacks on our country—such as on Colonial Pipeline in May which led to gas shortages and even dangerous situations caused by panic buying and on JBS meat processing which lead to…
-
The Risen Christ is Still Wounded
2nd Sunday of Easter (Mercy Sunday); April 11, 2021 Acts 4:32-35. Ps 118. 1 Jn 5:1-6. Jn 20:19-31 Deacon Jim McFadden The seven weeks between Easter Sunday and Pentecost constitutes the Easter season. While lest well known than Advent or Lent—people will give you quizzical looks when you say “Happy Easter” well into May—the…
-
Driving Out Junk Religion
3rd Sunday of Lent (B); 3-7-2021 Ex 20:1-17. Ps 19. 1 Cor 1:22-25. Jn 2:13-25 Deacon Jim McFadden In today’s Gospel, in the second chapter of John, Jesus goes to the temple in Jerusalem and finds merchants selling oxen, sheep, and doves to sacrifice as well as money-changers sitting at their tables. Using a…
-
The Binding of Isaac/Jesus
2nd Sunday of Lent (B); 2-28-2021 Gen 22:1-2,9a, 10-13. Ps 116. Rom 8:31b-6:34. Mk 9:2-10 Deacon Jim McFadden During the 2nd Sunday of Lent we come across a most troubling story in the first reading that is traditionally called the “Binding of Isaac.” The story is terrible, not just because it involves human sacrifice,…
-
Jesus Among Wild Beasts and Angels
1st Sunday of Lent (B); 2-21-2021 Gn 9:8-15. Ps 25. 1 Pet 3:18-22. Mk 1:12-15 Deacon Jim McFadden Each year the Church admonishes us to turn our faces once again to the mystery and heart of our faith: The Paschal Mystery of the living, dying, and rising of Jesus and our own living, dying,…
-
Are We All “Lepers”?
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B); February 14, 2021 Lv 13:1-2,44-46. Ps 32. 1 Cor 10:31—11:1. Mk 1:40-45 Deacon Jim McFadden The last few Sundays, we have encountered Jesus, the Divine Physician of our bodies and souls. He was sent into our world plagued by dissension, alienation, dysfunction, and social injustice of every sort—all…
-
Jesus, the Divine Physician
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B); 2-7-2021 Job 7:1-7. Ps 147. 1 Cor 9:16-23. Mk 1:29-39 Deacon Jim McFadden Pope Francis often describes the Church as a “field hospital” of wounded, broken, sinful people who are in need of healing. While it is difficult to admit, all of us are spiritually sick who need…
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,…
WWW.DEACONJIM.BLOG 