First Christmas, 1974 Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Community blog: https://maryofmagdala-mke.org/blog The young associate Pastor’s first Christmas, St. Gemma Church, Detroit Advent, 1974 was my first season of liturgical anticipation at St. Gemma’s Parish. Going on four months into that initial year of ministry, the timing for settling in seemed just about right. All…
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The Cross of Irony Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com First thoughts on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross When it comes to the Cross, it seems to me, we have lived through a seismic shift that began with a view of exclusion and pious practices. Back when the Roman Church held that…
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Mary Jo Federspiel, Community Member Good morning. First I need to make mention of the fact that you heard an excellent, scholarly, scripturally based homily from Gary last Sunday. Thank you, Gary. Today – you just get me. I also want to mention that the readings for today were somewhat different than the ones with…
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1st Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2024 Gary Meagher, Member Presider “To whom can I speak when no one remembers the wisdom of the past, when no one now helps those who struggle for goodness in the world? To whom can I speak when those who would speak for justice have gone silent and the…
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“The Freedom of a Priestly People: Unity & Diversity in the same breath”(c) 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time — June 16, 2024 Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. — jimryan6885@gmail.com Pastor, Mary Magdala Community, maryofmagdala-mke.org We can be thankful, I think, that when Jesus gave a vision of how he saw the impact of his…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div, Ph.D. Mary Magdala Community, Milwaukee Corpus Christi is a covenantal feast. Look over today’s readings and this jumps out at you. From the sprinkling of blood in Exodus through the triumphant Christ of the Hebrews fulfilling his mission, to the very words of sacramental giving and nourishing spoken by Jesus in…
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“Pentecost: Thought to Thought & Heart to Heart”(c) Pentecost — May 19 , 2024 Pastor, Mary Magdala Community, maryofmagdala-mke.org Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. — jimryan6885@gmail.com I thought it would be amusing to have AI write a Pentecost homily; amusing in the ironic sense that a digitally generated message could ever speak the language…
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“Faith in Wonder & Mystery”(c) Feast of Ascension and Mother’s Day — May 12 , 2024 Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. — jimryan6885@gmail.com Pastor, Mary Magdala Community, maryofmagdala-mke.org Serene Jones is President of Union Theological Seminary (UTS) in New York City. A scholar in her own right, she has held this leadership role for 16…
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“Social Catholicism and Remembering Paul & Barbara Misner”(c) 3rd Sunday of Easter — April 14, 2024 Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. — jimryan6885@gmail.com Pastor, Mary Magdala Community, maryofmagdala-mke.org Paul and Barbara Misner played a large role in the decision Jean and I made to come to Wisconsin. Barb and Jean were Servite Sisters who taught…
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“Entering into Promise”(c) Palm Sunday– March 24, 2024 Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. — jimryan6885@gmail.com Pastor, Mary Magdala Community, maryofmagdala-mke.org Our Lenten journey transitions this week from a season of renewal in faith to accompanying Jesus and his followers with a focus on the Paschal Mystery, on Jesus’ dying and rising. One last time we…
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