Author: Father Albert

Pastor Column: Being Together

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From the bulletin of May 30, 2021      With the restoration of the Sunday Obligation, I have decided to end livestreaming of Masses. June 6 will be the last streamed Mass. On certain special occasions, we may sometimes record and/or stream, but not on a weekly or daily basis. The reason for this is simple: I want to incentivize and prioritize us being together for Mass. Our attendance is barely more than half of what it was during the pandemic and, quite frankly, I miss seeing my people. The Lord misses them too.      With a year’s worth of experience,...Read More

Pastor Column: Charisms

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From the bulletin of May 23, 2021      As this weekend is Pentecost, I thought we’d pause our journey through Papal documents to look at some teachings on the Holy Spirit. Should everything go according to plan for my homily (I’m writing this on the Monday before), I will preach about the charisms of the Holy Spirit. If you haven’t yet heard that homily, you may want to do that first. As I say in the homily, the charisms are not about your personal holiness - that’s what the seven gifts are for. These are about building up the Church...Read More

Homily for Pentecost Sunday: A Spirit Greater Than the Force

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Pentecost Sunday                                                                                                        May 23, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/aqRManLgTZ0 “May the force be with you.” You may have seen this quite a bit on the internet at the beginning of this month, a reference to the popular fictional world of Star Wars. The opportunity for making a pun on the 4th of May is just too good to pass up. Of course, Catholics often add their own flare by responding “and with your spirit.” It think it’s fun. What I don’t think is that force is a good analogy for...Read More

Homily for Ascension Sunday, B: The Work of Love

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Ascension Sunday, B                                                                                                  May 16, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/vQfcazDSmdE The Bishop asked that this letter be read during the homily: "Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Diocese of Lafayette, the third commandment of God obliges us to keep holy the Lord's Day. This commandment is fulfilled when we give God the most perfect worship possible, the worship of Jesus Christ himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We also observe it by works of charity, spiritual reading, and refraining from unnecessary servile labor to spend time with family...Read More

Pastor Column: St. Jerome and Scripture II

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From the bulletin of May 16, 2021      Pope Benedict XV points us to some pieces of advice that St. Jerome offers on knowing scripture. Not surprisingly the fist thing St. Jerome says is to “exercise your mind, feed it daily with Holy Scripture… to read Holy Scripture assiduously.” I’ve often heard that Catholics of a certain generation were told not to read the bible because they weren’t qualified to interpret it. Enemies of the Church sometimes say the Catholic Church explicitly forbid people from reading the bible on their own. Well, this was written in 1920 and comes from...Read More

Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter: Complete Person, Complete Joy

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6th Sunday of Easter, B                                                                                              May 9, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/QDA_Q1Qbjb8 “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.” Perfect! Isn’t that exactly what we want… what we’ve been talking about this whole Easter season? Who doesn’t want complete joy? Well then, what is it Jesus says that makes this possible? “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” That kind of sounds...Read More

Pastor Column: St. Jerome & Scripture I

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From the bulletin of May 9, 2021      Our next encyclical from Pope Benedict XV is title Spiritus Paraclitus, which is translated to “The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.”  “Paraclete” is a fancy word that means a combination of helper, advocate, consoler, and defender. While the title focuses on the Holy Spirit, the actual document actually focuses on St. Jerome, who is a doctor of the Church because of his efforts to translate and understand scripture. Indeed, the pope even calls him the “Greatest Doctor” because his work was so directly involved in making scripture accessible to the whole Church.     ...Read More

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter, B: Tending the Garden

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5th Sunday of Easter, B                                                                                              May 2, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/cuuQwlxIuaU I tried. Last year, as the pandemic hit, I tried to start gardening, dabbling mostly… Tomatoes, bell peppers, a few vegetables… It did not go well. Most of what I started is dead now, overrun with weeds. The reason why is pretty straightforward: I didn’t take care of it. I started to be a gardener, but I did not remain a gardener, defaulting instead to a passive observer after the first few tomatoes and a single pumpkin. Such fruitlessness isn’t...Read More

Pastor Column: Preaching the Word of God

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From the bulletin of May 2, 2021      Our first encyclical from Pope Benedict XV is called Humani Generis Redemptionem, published in 1917. Translated, that title means “the Redemption of the Human Race.” The pope begins the encyclical by quoting St. Paul (Rom 10:17), “ Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” This sets up the primary theme of the letter, which in proper preaching of the Gospel to the world. Right away, Pope Benedict notes that there are more preachers of the word than ever before, but that the “state...Read More

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter: Life Worth Living, Self Worth Giving

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4th Sunday of Easter, B                                                                                              April 25, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/knQwMihv42A When we talk about heaven, most of us imagine it to be a place of eternal happiness, whatever that looks like. Well, St. John in the second reading is talking about heaven. And do you know how he defines the joy in heaven? “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” That’s what will bring us everlasting happiness, to see Jesus Christ as he is and so to become like him. So, it should...Read More