Author: Father Albert

We Stubborn Brothers: Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
4th Sunday of Lent, C                                                                                      March 30, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/jYy-gRolW0k What do you call this story? Parable of the prodigal son, right? That’s not what Jesus calls it. There isn’t a name, actually. Those bolded titles in most bibles are added by editors. I think that, if we asked Jesus what the name of this parable should be, he wouldn’t call it the prodigal son. I think he’d call it the parable of the stubborn brother. Don’t get me wrong, I love to emphasize the prodigal son’s return and...Read More

Tales About Time: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
3rd Sunday of Lent, C                                                                                     March 23, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/0GLF7VVVSZE Once upon a time, there were two brothers who lived in a kingdom in the middle of a great desert. The king was a wise man who built his kingdom around an abundant oasis. One day, someone poisoned the water, so the king needed someone to go to cross the great desert and recover the antidote to the poison. The two brothers were well known as the fastest runners in the kingdom, but even they couldn’t make it across...Read More

A Story Worth Repeating: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
2nd Sunday of Lent, C                                                                                     March 16, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/hXBuswJd0aw Perhaps you’ve heard this story from me before. If so, I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. One summer as boy, I got to trek through the mountains in northern New Mexico in a crew of mostly 14 and 15 year-old boys. For 10 days we wound through the mountains. The final leg of the trip brought us to back base camp by way of the mountain called the Tooth of Time. So, on that final night, we...Read More

Going With Gratitude: Homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
1st Sunday of Lent, C                                                                                      March 9, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/roydVxA4x5c In 1925 in New York, a 27 year-old woman became pregnant. Normally, it’s not surprising for a woman in her 20s sharing her life with a man to experience that. Only, this woman thought it would never happen because of a choice she had made the last time she was with child, something she thought would leave her barren the rest of her life. But then it happened anyway. This momentous event wasn’t entirely isolated. Shortly before finding herself...Read More

Whatever it Takes: Homily for Ash Wednesday 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
Ash Wednesday                                                                                              March 5, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/ArNnE4yuS8c “Do whatever it takes.” How often do we hear that? How many motivational speeches and posters exhort us to do whatever it takes? And for good reason. There’s a certain kind of blunt power to it, a directness and simplicity that has a way of lodging in the brain. Forget the excuses, the complicated whatnots… do whatever it takes. Whatever it takes to do… what, exactly? That’s the important question. If your goal is a noble one – holiness, helping others, overcoming...Read More

From the Heart: Homily for the 8th Sunday OT 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
8th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                                                                     March 2, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/HEQZJ0XLQIM While at lunch in the seminary dining room one day, the conversation got onto the topic of how people acted when they were fans of something: famous people, stories, music and so on. When one book in particular came up, I casually interjected, “oh man, I hate fans of that book” only to look up and lock eyes with someone who was indeed a fan of that very book, a horrified expression on his face. It’s still a clear...Read More

A Turn of Love: Homily for the 7th Sunday OT 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
7th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                                                                     February 23, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/0IJCGuT8RiY Once, while I was a seminarian teaching catechism to kids, a student struck me on the cheek and ran away. To be fair, he didn’t mean to actually hit me. He was acting on a dare to touch my beard, which was laughably bad in those days. Nervousness made him move too quickly, but it’s not like it even hurt… more surprised me. Eventually, of course, his classmates told their parents, who told the pastor. When the pastor asked...Read More

The Arrows of God: Homily for VC School Mass 20 Feb 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
Thursday, OT 6                                                                                               February 20, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               Vermilion Catholic, Abbeville https://youtu.be/BXwgcA-WzOk [Miming a bow & arrow motion] The bow & arrow has been a useful tool for a looong time. Way before we even thought about making the wheel. The only tools older than a bow & arrow are the pointy stick, the hammer, the sharp rock, and fire. There’s evidence that human beings used the bow & arrow over 70,000 years ago. Even today with more high tech options, people still use the bow & arrow to hunt and it’s premier event at the...Read More

The Truth of an Acorn: Homily for the 6th Sunday OT 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                                                                     February 16, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/6lPZUytPIsg Quid est veritas? Pontius Pilate mocks Jesus Christ with that question, “what is truth?” It’s cynical, showing that Pilate doesn’t think there is such a thing as “truth” in the first place. For him, all that matters is what works, what keeps him comfortable, alive, and in power. Cynical though the question is, Jesus does answer it. Not with words, but by his very presence and by his witness of obedience unto death. I sympathize with the question, though....Read More

Fighting Fear with Fear: Homily for the 5th Sunday OT 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                                                                     February 9, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/rAf68Cwy3XA I am not worthy to be your pastor, unfit to be a steward of divine things, keeper of the keys of God’s mercy. Yet I am all these things by God’s providence just as St. Paul was an apostle despite once being an enemy of Christ and complicit in murder. Though I’ve never killed anyone, I’ve no reason to feel any more secure about my credentials than Saul the Pharisee. By God’s grace, I am what I am as...Read More