3rd Sunday of Advent (B); 12-13-2020 Is 61:1-2a,10-11. Lk 1:46-50,53-54. 1 Thes 5:16-24. Jn 1:6-8,19-28 Deacon Jim McFadden The human heart desires joy. We all want to be happy. Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, “Today is going to be a good day to be miserable!” So, what is the source of…
2nd Sunday of Advent (B); 12-06-2020 Is 40:1-5,9-11. Ps 85. 2 Pt 3:8-14. Mk 1:1-8 Deacon Jim McFadden Last Sunday we began Advent with the anticipation of Christ within our hearts and community at a deeper level. In this Second Sunday of preparation for Christmas, we focus on hope. We hear this refrain in…
1st Sunday of Advent (B); November 29, 2020 Is 63:16b-17,19b; 64:2b-7 Ps 80 1 Cor 1:3-9. Mk 13:33-37 Deacon Jim McFadden Carly Simon in the 1970s sang, “Anticipation, anticipation is makin’ me late, is keepin’ me waitin.” As we enter the new liturgical year and the season of Advent, this song reminds us that…
Christ the King (A); 11-22-2020 Ez 34:11-12 Ps 23. 1 Cor 15:20-26,28 Mt 25:31-46 Deacon Jim McFadden As we conclude our liturgical year, the Church invites us to fix our gaze on our Lord Jesus, the King of the Universe, who is the beginning and end of Salvation History. As King, Jesus preached and…
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 11-15-2020 Prv 31 Ps 128. 1 Thes 5:1-6. Mt 25:14-30 Deacon Jim McFadden There are a myriad number of laws of nature that obtain anywhere in the cosmos. For example, it’s simply a law that objects fall according to a gravitational pull. There’s the law of energy which is…
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 11-08-2020 Wis 2:12-16. Ps 63. 1 Thes 4:13-18. Mt 25:1-13 Deacon Jim McFadden We are a hyper-stimulated, impatient people. Carrie Fisher, in her autobiography once opined that “instant gratification takes too long!” And, the electronic, digital age we now live in has only exacerbated this. We have 5G…
All Saints Day (A); November 1, 2020 Rv 7:2-4,9-14. Ps 24. 1 Jn 3:1-3. Mt 5:1:12a Deacon Jim McFadden Forty years ago Sister Sledge released a song, We Are Family, that stressed that we are meant to be very close together because we are born into the same family. As Catholics, we know that…
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time A); 10-25-2020 Ex 22:20-26. Ps 18. 1 Thes 1:5c-10. Mt 22:34-40 Deacon Jim McFadden This Sunday, the Gospel reading reminds us in no uncertain terms that the whole of the Divine Law can be summed up in our love for God and neighbor. Matthew offers an account in which…
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 10-10-2020 Is 25:6-10a. Ps 23. Phil 4:12-20. Mt 22:1-10 Deacon Jim McFadden The parable we hear in today’s Gospel focuses on a royal wedding party, which will tell us a lot about the Kingdom of God. The central character is the king’s son, the bridegroom whom we can…
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 10-18-2020 Is 45:1,4-6. Ps 96. 1 Thes 1:5b. Mt 22:15-21 Deacon Jim McFadden We’ve just heard one of the famous passages of the entire Gospel: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God” (Mt 22:21). It’s teasingly straightforward, so straightforward…
The Cross is the Way Home 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); August 30, 2026 Jer 20:7-9. Ps 63. Rom 12:1-2. Mt 16:21-27 Deacon Jim McFadden After establishing Peter as the rock of his Church, Jesus then begins to speak…
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); August 23, 2026 Is 22:19-23. Ps 138. Rom 11:33-36. Mt 16:13-20 Deacon Jim McFadden Midway through his public ministry, Jesus ventured with his disciples to the northern reaches of the Promised Land, to the…
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); August 16, 2026 Is 56:1,6-7. Ps 67. Rom 11:13-15,29-32. Mt 15:21-28 Deacon Jim McFadden Today’s Gospel (Mt 15:21-28) presents us with a unique example of faith in Jesus’s encounter with a Canaanite woman,…
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