Author: Father Albert

St. Joseph: The Silent Teacher

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4th Sunday Advent, Year A Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/St.-Joseph-The-Silent-Teacher.wav"][/audio]   Finally! Now the Church is ready to talk about Christmas and the baby Jesus! In just seven days, we will officially begin the Christmas season and rejoice that our God, infinite, omniscient, and eternal, chose to become a tiny child, born in a manger. The one who could not be killed or harmed chose to place himself at risk of infant mortality, poverty, and even Herod’s murderous obsession with preserving his kingship. This loving God left his own protection up to the poor carpenter...Read More

Are You Offended?

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3rd Sunday Advent, Year A Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Are-You-Offended.wav"][/audio] “Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” The blind see again, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, who would be offended at that? Perhaps, if John were not the greatest man “among those born of woman,” he might. After all, while Jesus’ popularity is increasing and hundreds of people are benefiting from his miracles, John is languishing away in prison. John was the one who introduced Jesus to the public and it’s safe to say that John’s preaching made...Read More

Mary: Tabernacle, Model, Mother

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Immaculate Conception, Year C Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Mary-Tabernacle-Model-Mother.wav"][/audio]   The Immaculate Conception. What is it? Why does it matter? The Immaculate Conception refers to Mary, not Jesus. The Immaculate Conception is a dogma of the Church, declared by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854. It is one of the two times in the Church’s history that a Pope has used his authority and office to teach something ex cathedra. That is Latin for “from the chair,” as in from the chair of Peter. It means the teaching is infallible. This is important because many people think...Read More

Some Assembly Required

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2nd Sunday Advent, Year A Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia I’m coming to your house and I am going to chop down your Christmas tree! Does that sound like a good way for a priest to win over his congregation? Well, that is basically what the priest in our Gospel is saying. John the Baptist is from the priestly tribe of Levi and his lives in the desert as a prophet. Despite his rather confrontational style, he attracts a huge crowd from “Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan.” This fiery prophet speaks with...Read More

The Reason for the Season

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1st Sunday Advent, Year A Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ADV_1_A.wav"][/audio]   Jesus is the reason for the Season. It’s a common phrase for a bumper sticker, a picture on the internet, or a billboard. Have you really considered what it means? Who is Jesus really? For that matter, which season is this phrase referring to? Those two questions are more closely related than we might think at first. The fact is that many people started to celebrate Christmas earlier this week or even right after Halloween: decorations, Christmas music, seasonal foods and desserts, and shopping...Read More

Viva Christo Rey!

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Last Sunday OT, Christ the King, Year C Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/CTK_C_16.wav"][/audio]   I. N. R. I. Iesus Nazerenus Rex Judaeorum. Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews. This is the king of the Jews. Bloody, crucified, gasping for breath, and mocked not only by the usual crowds, but even by the men undergoing the very same torment. Do you want victory? A marching army, bombastic music, and a triumphal procession announcing the defeat of our enemies and the arrival of lasting peace? Then you must see your king for what he is. And...Read More

Now Is The Time For Political Involvement

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As the venerable rector of Notre Dame Seminary often says "well, there it is."  The Election is over and our future president will be Donald J. Trump.  All the arguing, doomsaying, and worrying aside, 100 million people each made their one decision about whom to vote for.  A decision they can repeat every four years.  Think about that - your vote was a single decision, out of 100 million, that you made one time in four years.  How many other decisions do you make?  The estimates range from 27 "judgments" (conscious, deliberate choices) to 35,000 decisions every day (including all...Read More

Called!

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32nd Sunday OT, Year C Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/32_OT_C.wav"][/audio]   One evening, on the return drive from our weekly Boy Scout meeting, my brother and I were discussing our future. It must have been toward the end of my junior year in high school because I was driving the convertible my parents had just bought me. Life was good, then. A cool car, lots of friends, video games, a beautiful date for the upcoming prom, and not a lot to worry about. Anyway, my brother got on a tangent about his ideal career which...Read More

Oh When The Saints Go Marching In!

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All Saints Day, Year C Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/All_Saints_2016.wav"][/audio]   When New Orleans first sought to create a team to join the NFL, someone approached Archbishop Hannan, then Archbishop of New Orleans, to ask him about the name. They wanted to know if he would mind that they used the name the “Saints” for a football team. His response was simple “That’s fine with me, but remember that most of our saints were martyrs.” Indeed, for most of Archbishop Hannan’s life, his little warning proved to be quite apt. The Saints were notorious for...Read More

Your Neighbor, the Sycamore

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31st Sunday OT, Year C Fr. Albert St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia [audio wav="http://box5246.temp.domains/~alberuc3/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/31_0T_C.wav"][/audio]   “We ask you, brothers and sisters… not to be… alarmed either by a ‘spirit,’ or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.” Christians in every age have worried that their time was going to be the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus Christ. They were both right and wrong. They were wrong because the final Judgment still hasn’t happened even after 2000 years. But,...Read More