Author: Father Albert

Freedom in the Forest

Posted on by Father Albert
[caption id="attachment_1684" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The view from Black Balsam Knob, a mountain not from from the camps. Via Wikimedia.[/caption] As I write this, I am in one of my favorite places in the world: Camps Kahdalea & Chosatonga.  It's a pair of superb wilderness camps nestled in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Parkway at the edge of the Pisgah National Forest.  Staffed by an exceptional group of counselors, these camps take seriously the modifier "wilderness."  They expose youth aged 8-18 to a wide array of adventurous activities from white-water kayaking to rock-climbing to spelunking.  And they have the whole...Read More

Daily Collection: St. Ephrem

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Collect taken from the memorial of St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor Collect: Pour into our hearts O Lord, we pray, the Holy Spirit, at whose prompting the Deacon Saint Ephrem exulted in singing of your mysteries and from whom he received the strength to serve you alone. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "Pour into our hearts O Lord, we pray, the Holy Spirit, at whose prompting the Deacon Saint Ephrem exulted in singing of your mysteries" - It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can adequately praise God's goodness and the mysteries of our redemption. So, while...Read More

Daily Collection: St. Norbert

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Collect taken from the memorial of St. Norbert Collect: O God, who made the Bishop Saint Norbert a servant of your Church outstanding in his prayer and pastoral zeal, grant, we ask, that by the help of his intercession, the flock of the faithful may always find shepherds after your own heart and be fed in the pastures of salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... " O God, who made the Bishop Saint Norbert a servant of your Church outstanding in his prayer and pastoral zeal," -  Without fail, we continue to give glory to God for the achievements of his saints. Even...Read More

Daily Collection: St. Boniface

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Collect taken from the memorial of St. Boniface, bishop and martyr Collect: May the Martyr Saint Boniface be our advocate, O Lord, that we may firmly hold the faith he taught with his lips and sealed in his blood and confidently profess it by our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "May the Martyr Saint Boniface be our advocate, O Lord," -  Recently, we heard from Jesus that the Holy Spirit is the Advocate, but here we are asking for St. Boniface to be an advocate. It is true that Jesus is the one mediator between God and man - St. Boniface...Read More

The Unity of the Holy Spirit

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Homily for Pentecost Sunday Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-Unity-of-the-Holy-Spirit.wav"][/audio]   Unity. Do we have unity in our families? Our Parish? Our Country? What about in our faith? Is our Church unified? Perhaps it is worth asking, what “unity” means anyway? In a sense, we could say that these questions run throughout all human history. Trade, politics, warfare… these and more are responses to the question of unity, to the question of how we will go about existing in the same world. Sometimes we can avoid the issue by simply avoiding the same space. Two points...Read More

Daily Collection: St. Charles Lwanga and Companions

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Collect taken from the memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs Collect:  O God, who have made the blood of Martyrs the seed of Christians, mercifully grant that the field which is your Church, watered by the blood shed by Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions, may be fertile and always yield you an abundant harvest. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "O God, who have made the blood of Martyrs the seed of Christians" - We remind ourselves of Tertullian's famous quote about the blood of martyrs. We recognize that Christians who give their lives for the love of God and...Read More

And These Three Remain

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Homily for Ascension Sunday Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/And-These-Three-Remain.wav"][/audio]   “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Isn’t it odd that this is the Gospel passage we read on the very day that we celebrate the Ascension? The Apostles watch as Jesus ascends into heaven and disappears. They stand there staring for so long that an Angel has to appear to them and shake them out of it. “What are you doing? Quit staring at heaven; Jesus has been taken up… he will return later.” If he has been taken up,...Read More

Daily Collection: Seventh Week of Easter – Monday

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Collect taken from Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter. Collect: May the power of the Holy Spirit come to us, we pray, O Lord, that we may keep your will faithfully in mind and express it in a devout way of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "May the power of the Holy Spirit come to us, we pray, O Lord" - We are in the midst of the Novena to the Holy Spirit, the original novena in the life of the Church. As such, the prayers for this entire week ask for the Holy Spirit and look forward to his coming. "that...Read More

Daily Collection: St. Augustine of Canterbury

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Collect taken from the memorial of St. Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop Collect:  O God, who by the preaching of the Bishop Saint Augustine of Canterbury led the English peoples to the Gospel, grant, we pray, that the fruits of his labors may remain ever abundant in your Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "O God, who by the preaching of the Bishop Saint Augustine of Canterbury led the English peoples to the Gospel" - Particularity is a part of the faith. While we are all joined to the one Church, we are also a rich diversity of peoples who come to the...Read More

Daily Collection: St. Bede the Venerable

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Collect taken from the memorial of St. Bede, Priest and Doctor Collect:  O God, who bring light to your Church through the learning of the Priest Saint Bede, mercifully grant that your servants may always be enlightened by his wisdom and helped by his merits. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "O God, who bring light to your Church through the learning of the Priest Saint Bede" - As always, we credit God for the merits of his saints. In this case, St. Bede is a doctor of the Church, which means that he was a teacher of the faith. So, we acknowledge...Read More