Author: Father Albert

What You Really Want

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The Solemnity of All Saints                                                                           November 1, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  St. Padre Pio could bilocate, read people’s souls, and had the stigmata. Mother Teresa lived 20 years as a teaching nun before dedicating the rest of her life in radical service to the poor. Pope St. John Paul II survived the Nazi and Communist occupation of his country, earned two doctorate degrees, was pope for 25 years, and brought down communism in Poland. St. Augustine was an ancient bishop and is still one of the most well-known writers to...Read More

Wanting To See What You Want

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The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B                                        October 28, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  “What do you want me to do for you?” What a question! This man is a blind beggar, what do you think he wants, Jesus? Even worse, Jesus is God; he knows what this man wants even before talking to him. Really, Jesus could have just healed him from a distance as soon as he heard the man calling. He could have snapped his fingers or simply willed it to happen. Why not give him what he wants...Read More

A Layman’s Guide to Leadership

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The Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B                               October 21, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” Jesus seems to be specifically talking to His Apostles, to the first priests and bishops. Yet, this is more than job description for leaders. It also reveals a fundamental principle of God’s kingdom, of what it means to be Christian. More than a rule, this is a worldview. Contrary to the opinion of some critics,...Read More

First Things First

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The Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B                              October 14, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  Scandal, crisis, confusion. Priests against bishops, cardinals against each other, and bishops versus the Pope himself. We are rocked by ongoing revelations of abuse cover-ups. We are faced with a continually declining attendance at Mass and all the sacraments. We see the world becoming more secular, even hostile towards the faith. What happened? Well, many things happened, but the foremost is this: we reversed the order of the Great Commandment. The great commandment is to love God with your...Read More

On The Whole

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Homily for Mass @ CHS                   Homecoming Week                            October 8, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            Catholic High, New Iberia [Recording Lost] Love. That’s the answer to the only question that matters, the question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life.” The scribe asks this question as a test, but at least part of him really does want the answer. Who wouldn’t? Who here honestly doesn’t want to be happy? And not just happy like I’ve got a date to the homecoming dance happy, but perfectly happy, without stress or pain or fear… and to be like that...Read More

Tough Love, True Love

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The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, B                                        October 7, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia [Due to a cold and a cough, I couldn't actually deliver the homily verbally. I instead gave a short summary at each Mass] I love dogs. I think they are a marvelous piece of evidence of God’s design – that the universe is meant for us. What’s remarkable about dogs is that they sprang up all around the world at almost the same time and the best we can tell, we didn’t make it happen. It happened on its...Read More

Why Make The Cut?

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The Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time                                     September 30, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia As a young boy scout, I enjoyed climbing, hiking, and building survival skills. My friends and I relished in having skills enabled us to survive in difficult terrain. We often listened to stories of men and women who had used similar skills to survive incredible ordeals and return home. One such story was that of Aron Ralston. Aron Ralston was a mountaineer from Colorado. In 2003, he was hiking and climbing in Utah by himself when a boulder shifted and trapped...Read More

New and Improved

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Homily for Mass @ CHS                   Grandparent’s Day                             September 27, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            Catholic High, New Iberia  “New and improved.” That tagline advertisement is just about everywhere. The next iphone, the next computer, the next update of fortnight. Things are always getting improved, getting better, becoming new again. And as the world changes, we start to see differences between different generations. One hilarious illustration of this difference I saw in a video a while back. It features a dad who decided to test his daughter’s ability to understand how things used to work. He’s sitting down...Read More

Purity and Desire

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The Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time                                     September 23, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  Passion. Desire. Ambition. What do you think of when I say these words? Something carnal or worldly? Do they make you think of spirituality and holiness? And what do you think of when I say “purity?” Perhaps, you think of purity as something opposite to desire and passion; that someone who is pure simply doesn’t want is wrong. St. James says, “where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions?”...Read More

Kiss My Feet

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Homily for Mass @ CHS                                                                               September 20, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            Catholic High, New Iberia  Would you kiss my feet? I mean, I’m a pretty clean person, and these are fresh socks, so it’s probably not too bad. This woman in the Gospel is willing to kiss Jesus feet, and he wore sandals in the desert. Can you imagine how ripe those things would be? Maybe that’s why she washed them first… Still, it’s kind of crazy isn’t it? There are all these people at a dinner party and this woman walks into someone else’s...Read More