Author: Father Albert

Keep Watch With Me: Homily for Palm Sunday 2026

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Palm Sunday, A                                                                                           March 29, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/PSgb2kBhC1s Who wins? The chief priests? Not when the veil of the sanctuary is torn. Judas? Certainly not when he takes his own life. Pontius Pilate? Not when he has to answer to his wife who asked him not to do it. The disciples? Not when they fell asleep in the garden, not in their futile attempt to use the sword, not when they fled and not when Peter denies Jesus. Who wins in the end, then? Jesus wins in his resurrection. But we aren’t there yet. Who...Read More

The Cost of Yes and No: Homily for the Annunciation 2026

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Solemnity of the Annunciation                                                                March 25, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/RldaNxT7TU0 If a known and proven prophet came to you and offered to do any one miracle you wanted, what would you ask for? Healing? A spectacular vision of heaven? Some impossible thing like the sun dancing across the sky? We know God can and has done miracles like that, so what would you ask for? When it’s hypothetical, I bet most of us could come up with something we’d ask for. In reality, however, many of us… perhaps most of us wouldn’t ask for anything. Why...Read More

To Never Die: Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent 2026

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5th Sunday of Lent, A                                                                                 March 22, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/BiV4Z-EtgJg Usually, when a person shows immediate understanding or great faith, Jesus responds with joy, even exclaiming “what great faith!” We see this with the Canaanite woman, the roman centurion, the woman with a hemorrhage… And yet, when Martha says “I know [my brother] will rise in the resurrection on the last day,” Jesus doesn’t just affirm her, he pushes for more: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Why? In part, because he’s planning to do something much sooner than the “last day.” He will...Read More

Losing Jesus: Homily for St Joseph 2026

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St. Joseph, Husband of Mary                            March 19, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                      St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/J-uZJWt7usk How can you lose Jesus? More easily than you might think. Once, when were kids, my brother and I were on a camping trip with a bunch of other people. My brother is… not a morning person. So, when everyone else was getting out of their tents and preparing to go to the place where we’d go rock climbing, my brother was trying to grab a few extra minutes of sleep. Well, he got more than a few. With all the people and commotion,...Read More

To See Joy: Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent 2026

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4th Sunday of Lent, A                                                                                 March 15, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/AWIMSO5cuWY Can you see joy? Maybe. There’s one trend in short internet videos that I enjoy which captures the change in someone’s expression before and after they see someone or something they love. One version involves professional photographers who do something to get a more genuine smile. I’ve seen one kick their shoe at the person to make them laugh. My favorite involves a guy who suddenly breaks out a literal sword for them to hold. You should see the way people smile when they’re holding...Read More

Asking Without Grumbling: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent

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3rd Sunday of Lent, A                                                                                   March 8, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/G9Z_RRVSko0 When you need water, do you ask for it? Or do you grumble about the fact that you are thirsty? In both cases, the need is the same... that need is legitimate. Without water we die, so the suffering and misery of thirst is our body saying “this is important!” If our bodies can use misery to get what it needs, why can’t we? Who says we can’t? I’m saddened by the misguided way Christians sometimes talk about our feelings and experiences, often reducing them...Read More

Not By Sight: Homily for the Funeral of Unclaimed Bodies 2026

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Funeral Mass for the Unclaimed Bodies                                                      March 5, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/7l4POdGvkYs “We walk by faith, not by sight.” It’s a common expression among us Christians. We often hear it in preaching and in the lives of the saints. We’ve just heard the part of scripture it comes from: St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. And the context of that saying is important because it tells us what the original point was. It is meant as an expression to help us face death because none of us can see past death. And...Read More

Why Do Anything? Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent 2026

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2nd Sunday of Lent, A                                                                                  March 1, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/IN8w68Tje-o “It is good that we are here!” Why is it good? “Because we see Jesus in glory!” “Why do we want that?” This past week, I pestered the 6th grade boys with this kind of questioning. Every time they answered why we should want something, I would ask, “why do we want that?” Now that we’re in the heart of Lent and some of the things we’re doing can begin to weigh on us, we might ask ourselves, “why are we doing this?” You might...Read More

The Breadth of Faith: Homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent 2026

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1stSunday of Lent, A                                                                              February 22, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/q9cjTNgWNJ4 What’s the big deal? It’s just a piece of fruit. How can something as small as eating one wrong piece of fruit be so bad that it breaks the whole world, gets Adam & Eve banned from the garden, and causes human beings for the rest of time to become weaker, dumber, and doomed to die? Isn’t that a bit unfair? Apparently not. Because God is just. God is good. If God, who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly good says this is the right consequence, then...Read More

Signs and Symbols: Homily for Ash Wednesday 2026

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Ash Wednesday                                                                              February 18, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/m_PgVRYiTNM A visible sign of an invisible reality. That’s what this is. That phrase should sound familiar – a visible sign of an invisible reality – because it is one of the ways we describe the Sacraments. All 7 of the capital-S Sacraments are visible – or audible – signs of an invisible reality. But that definition doesn’t just apply to those 7 rituals. Our faith is full of visible signs for invisible realities like we have today. The ashes are a visible sign of the...Read More