Author: Father Albert

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

Pastor Column: Rerum Novarum VII

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From the bulletin of January 17, 2021      After two special columns, we return this week to our journey through Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII. In our last installment, we heard about the importance of fair wages for those who work and about the importance of protecting the those who are desperate from being taken advantage of. Again, this interest is not necessarily anti-capitalism or anti-business, but simply pro human dignity. Unions and minimum wage laws can be helpful for this purpose and they can also be abused. At the time this encyclical was written, they were generally more...Read More

Homily for the Baptism of the Lord

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Baptism of the Lord, B                                                                                   January 10, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/zE_0KN67ELs “I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice.” Who doesn’t want that? Those who believe that Biden was lawfully elected want the victory of justice in having him peacefully take office. Those who believe the election was stolen want the victory of justice in having it overturned or redone. And both sides want the justice of proper punishments for those that they believe broke the law or violated the principles of our nation and the common good....Read More

Pastor Column: The Morality of Vaccines

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From the bulletin of January 10, 2021      As Covid-19 vaccines are becoming more available, now is a good time to consider some of the controversies around their production. First, we should make it clear what the Church says about vaccines in general. As a scientific and medical practice, it’s not the Church’s job to judge their effectiveness on a medical or scientific level. Still, the Church’s job (and mine) is to teach the truth about God and about the moral life we are called to live. Inasmuch as vaccines are meant to protect and promote health, the Church affirms...Read More