Author: Father Albert

Pastor Column: Tra Le Sollecitudini I

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From the bulletin of February 28      One of the earliest things Pope St. Pius X wrote as pope was a document on the music at Mass, titled Tra Le Sollecitudini, published on November 22, 1903. As he puts it, he is writing this letter because he “deemed it expedient to point out briefly the principles regulating sacred music in the functions of public worship, and to gather together in a general survey the principal prescriptions of the Church against the more common abuses in this subject.” This kind of letter is what’s called a Motu Propio. A good while...Read More

Homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent: Good vs. Evil

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1st Sunday of Lent, B                                                                         February 21, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/X6n0iIVvAAI Good versus evil. This concept is part of nearly every story ever told and central to all the best ones. Some people may talk about these two forces as a necessary part of the balance of the universe, the yin and yang or, to borrow an idea from Star Wars, the dark and light sides of the force. But even then, no sane person actually wants evil to be equal to good. The Jedi talk about balance, but strive continually...Read More

Pastor Column: Pope St. Pius X

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From the bulletin of February 21      Returning to our journey through major documents of recent popes, it is time to move on to Pope St. Pius X. Born with the name Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, he lived from 1835 to 1914. He lived in Riese, which was in the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, though it is now Italy. He became a priest in 1858. He served in a few placed, including as spiritual director and rector (president) of the seminary. By 1880, he was a teacher at the seminary until he was named the Bishop of Treviso in 1884 by Pope...Read More

Homily for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Reaching Out

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6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                    February 14, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXDYj2HY71Q “Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” In a sense, this verse is a summary of the entirety of salvation history. God’s pity, his mercy, moves him to stretch to the point of becoming human so he could touch us infected by sin and death and make us clean. It is, therefore, also the summary of what we should do in evangelization – stretch out, touch...Read More

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Defeating Devils and Disease

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5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                    February 7, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/jXYvPZWQ3LM Life is hard. It can be cruel and quite bitter. Job taps into this melancholy when he asks, “is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?” and when he claims, “I shall not see happiness again.” Why is life hard? More importantly, what can we do about it? The story of Job is peculiar. Most of the Old Testament echoes the idea that the good are blessed by God and the evil punished by him. The Israelites are conquered when...Read More

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B: Authority to Share

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4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                    January 31, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/t6nwuHpUaWs Authority. If we’re going to proclaim the gospel and evangelize, we will have to deal with this concept. In many cases, the reason a person remains aloof from the Catholic Church is that they don’t like the Church’s claim to authority. Our culture is already riddled with suspicion, with just about every expert being challenged because of bias, media, and politics. People protest: Tell me what to do? Act like you’re infallible? Claiming to be the only ones who’ve...Read More

Pastor’s Column: Mirror of Charity

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From the bulletin of January 31, 2021      The reason for the Church’s existence is love. The reason Pope Leo XIII wrote about social and economic conditions of his time was because he loved the people affected by society and the economy. Recalling that primary motive, it is perhaps fitting to now look at another one of his letters that deals more directly with love, also called “Charity.” In May of 1902, People Leo XIII issued the letter Mirae Caritatis which is Latin for The Mirror of Charity. The topic of that letter is the Holy Eucharist, which is the...Read More

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Repent

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3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                    January 24, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/7zvDDl1UdCo “Forty days more and” Jeanerette “shall be destroyed.” You think that might get people back to Mass and confession? It worked for Jonah in Nineveh, so why not here? Even Jesus started his ministry with a little bit of a dire note, “repent!” If Jesus and Jonah can call out for repentance and be successful, why can’t we? We can, though not quite in the same way. In our ongoing reflection on the topic of evangelization, we must deal honestly...Read More

Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time: What We Found

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2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   January 17, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/XHfLCDpUMP4 “He first found his own brother Simon and told him… Then he brought him to Jesus.” Can the same be said of us? As we dive deeper into the call to evangelization, this question is crucial for us. While Jesus does in some places speak of randomness – like with the parable of the sower – there is a structure and method to his mission of proclaiming the coming of the kingdom, and it starts with those already close at...Read More