Category Archives: Deacon Steven Johnson’s Reflections

14th Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 7-10-25, Year C Readings: 1st Reading: Gen 44:18-21, 23b-29,45:1-5; Psalm 105:16-21; Gospel Mt 10:7-15 Theme: Give Without Cost At Baptism, we were given the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, faith to believe in God and His saving grace, the forgiveness of our sins, and adoption as His sons andContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 7-10-25”

2nd Week of Easter, Thursday, 5-1-25, Year CReadings: 1st Reading: Acts 5:27-33; Psalm 34:2,9,17-20; Gospel Jn 3:31-36/Optional Memorial: St. Joseph The WorkerTheme: Faith & Works Leads to Everlasting Life As I walked along someone approached me who was handing out church pamphlets and said, “Faith in Jesus Christ will save you! All you have toContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 5-1-25”

Holy Week, Tuesday, 4-15-25, Year CReadings: 1st Reading: Is 49:1-6; Psalm 71:1-4a,5-6ab,15,17; Gospel Jn 13:21-33,36-38Theme: Sometimes Our Faith Does Not Match Our Words             One of my favorite movies to watch this time of year is “The Ten Commandments”. I used to love watching it every year when I was a kid with my family. TheContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 4-15-25”

2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 01-23-25, Year CReadings: 1st Reading:  Heb 7-25-8:6; Psalm 40:7-10,17; Gospel Mk 3:7-12Optional Memorials: St. Vincent, Deacon & Martyr-(USA); St. Marianne Cope, Virgin–(USA)Theme: Jesus, the Perfect Priest I am not a saint. Just because I was called to the ministry of the diaconate, does not mean I have some specialContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 1-23-25”

32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 11-14-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading:  Phlm 7-20; Psalm 146:7-10; Gospel Lk 17:20-25 Theme: To Suffer for the Forgiveness of Others A young slave, looking for a way out from his slavery, grabbed a few things of his master’s and fled on foot. He cautiously walked with hurried feet,Continue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 11-14-24”

26th Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 10-3-24, Year BReadings: 1st Reading: Jb 19:21-27; Psalm: 27:7-9, 13-14; Gospel: Lk 10:1-12Theme: An Unshakable Faith in God “I hear, and my body trembles; at the sound, my lips quiver.Decay invades my bones, my legs tremble beneath me.I await the day of distress that will come upon the peopleContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 10-3-24”

23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 9-12-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading: 1 Cor 8:1b-7, 11-13; Psalm: 139 1b-3, 13-14ab, 23-24; Gospel: Lk 6:27-38 Optional Memorial: The Most Holy Name of Mary Theme: Avoid Being a Source of Sin for Others Sometimes I just have to scratch my head about what some people are thinkingContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 9-12-24”

17th Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 8-1-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading: Jer 18:1-6; Psalm: 146 1b-2-6ab; Gospel: Mt 13:47-53 Memorial: St. Alphonsus Liguori – Bishop & Doctor of the Church Theme: Complete Dependance On God Job said, “We accept good things from God, and should we not accept evil? (Job 2:10) Who are weContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 8-1-24”

13th Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 7-4-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading: Am 7:10-17; Psalm: 19:8,9,10,11; Gospel: Mt 9:1-8 Independence Day – USA Theme: Faith Leads to Forgiveness, Forgiveness leads to Healing We often hear Jesus saying to someone who has come to Him faith for help, “Your faith has saved you, go in peace,Continue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 7-4-24”

8th Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 5-30-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading: Pt 2:2-5, 9-12; Psalm: 100:2-5, 10; Gospel: Mk 10:46-52 Theme: With Humility, Ask, Seek, and Find “Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.” Through Jesus, we have beenContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 5-30-24”

5th Week of Easter, Thursday, 5-2-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 15:17-21; Psalm: 96:1-3, 10; Gospel: Jn 15:9-11 Memorial: St. Athanasius, Bishop, Doctor of the Church Theme: A New and Everlasting Covenant  At the highest point in the Mass, our most holy public prayer, during the consecration of the bread and wine, the priestContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 5-2-24”

3rd Week of Easter, Thursday, 4-18-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 8:26-40; Psalm: 66:8-9,16-17,20; Gospel: Jn 6:44-51 Theme: Listening to God The husband was sitting at the table reading his phone. His wife was telling him about where they were going that night. He looked up from his phone and said, “What, where areContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Reflection 4-18-24”

Octave of Easter, Thursday, 4-4-24, Year BReadings: 1st Reading: Acts 3:11-26; Psalm: 8:2ab,5-9; Gospel: Lk 24:35-48Theme: Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen “Show me the money!” is a famous saying from the 1996 movie “Jerry Maguire” starring Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, and Cuba Gooding Jr. In the movie,  Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) starts hisContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 4-4-24”

Holy Week, Thursday, Chrism Mass, 3-28-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading: Is 61:1-3ab,6a,8b-9; Ps: 89:21-22, 25, 27; 2nsd Reading: Rv 1:5-8; Gospel: Lk 4:16-21 Theme: God’s Gifts Through Holy Oils “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;” These opening words of today’s first reading from Isaiah sumContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Reflection 3-28-24”

3rd Week of Lent, Thursday, 3-7-24, Year BReadings: 1st Reading Jer 7:23-28; Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; Gospel; Lk 11:14-23Optional Memorial: Saints Perpetua & FelicityTheme: Accept Correction and Be On God’s Side “The man of intelligence fixes his gaze on wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.” (Prov 17:24)Continue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 3-7-24”

2nd Week of Lent, Thursday, 2-29-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading Jer 17:5-10; Ps 1:1-4, 6; Gospel; Lk 16:19-31 Theme: Trust In God, Not Man Do you want to be cursed? Well, then just trust in human beings and your desire will come true. Now, that sounds pretty rough I know, but according to JeremiahContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Reflection 2-29-24”

Ordinary Time, Thursday, 2-6-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading 1 Kgs:8-22-23,27-30; Ps 84:3-5, 10-11; Gospel; Mk 7:1-13 Memorial: St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs Theme: The Standard of Original Truth They say if someone keeps telling a lie, that lie ends up becoming their truth. They can no longer make the distinction between what wasContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 2-6-24”

Ordinary Time, Thursday, 2-1-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading 1 Kgs:2-4, 10-12; Ps 1Chr 29:10, 11ab-12a, 12bcd; Gospel; Mk 6:7-13 Theme: Living Christ’s Legacy Legacy. One of the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of the noun, “legacy” is: “A candidate for membership in an organization who is given special status because of a familial relationship to aContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Homily 2-1-24”

Ordinary Time, Thursday, 1-11-24, Year B Readings: 1st Reading 1 Sm 4:1-11; Ps 44:10-11, 14-15, 25-26; Gospel; Mk 1:40-45 Theme: Faith and Trust Will Accomplish the Goal When we are most deeply challenged yet convinced of our ability to change that challenge into success, we become acutely focused on the task at hand. We haveContinue reading “Deacon Steven Johnson’s Reflection 1-11-24”