Author: Father Albert

All Saints Day                                                                                                 November 1, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette “There is only one tragedy in the end, not to have been a saint.” The novelist Leon Bloy once wrote that, and he was right. All the other things in this world that we call tragic will disappear and be nothing at the end of the world.  All the money, all the fame, all the power in the world will end when this world ends so it’s not tragic when we fail to get these things. In the end, a person...Read More

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                   October 20, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette If you’ve ever tried to pray regularly, you know that prayer is a battle. A battle against time, against distractions, against your own selfishness. Sure, most of us have had at least one point in our life where we enjoyed praying, but all of us have experienced a dryness, a boredom, and a downright reluctance to pray. Perhaps this is why almost 75% of Catholics don’t come to Mass every week and that many who do come tend to show...Read More

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                               October 6, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Really, Jesus? Be uprooted and planted in the sea? I mean, why would anyone even want to waste so much power on such a bizarre thing? I guess it could have saved the government some money 8 years ago when they moved that giant oak tree along highway 90, but otherwise, who would put a tree in the sea? No one would. Jesus doesn’t actually want his disciples to try a stunt like that, but it does give us a striking...Read More

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                   September 29, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette To maintain order in my classroom, I used a warning system that involved writing students’ names on the board. Sometimes, when I wrote a name, I would get an immediate reaction from the child “But I didn’t do anything wrong! What did I dooo?” I wonder if the rich man in this parable had that same reaction? Because it’s not like he killed anyone, or stole anything, or lied, or worshiped pagan idols. He never hurt Lazarus. What was so...Read More

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                    September 22, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette So, I keep saying that I see potential in this parish. Allow me to offer a list of possibilities during my term as pastor: establish a youth group, improve the parking lot, hire an outreach coordinator, deal with the old convent and school, offer ongoing adult formation in the parish, restore some of the Church’s former beauty, enrich our music program, start a children’s choir, host parish missions for lent and advent, increase our service to the poor, improve lighting...Read More