Author: Father Albert

Is Your Worship in Vain?

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22nd Sunday OT, Year B Deacon Albert St. John the Evangelist Cathedral https://sites.google.com/site/fatheralbertmedia/mp3/22_OT_B.mp3 Does Jesus have a problem with good hygiene? I mean, what is wrong with washing your hands and dishes before you eat? Or with the occasional “purification… of beds?” Surely Jesus doesn’t want us to sleep on sheets full of mildew and put our food on a layer of crumbs and mold from the last meal, does he? Of course not. These things are good in themselves and there is nothing wrong with doing them. But, Jesus has a reputation to uphold. His family honor is on...Read More

Whom will you serve?

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21st Sunday OT, Year B Deacon Albert St. John the Evangelist Cathedral   https://sites.google.com/site/fatheralbertmedia/mp3/21%20OT%20B.mp3 “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve.” The gods of pop culture and changing fashion, the gods of your imagination and pride, or the gods of the fleeting pleasures of the flesh. As for this house, we will serve the God of reality, the Lord who gave us our flesh and blood and who gave us his own flesh and blood. You see, there is no other option. You either worship the True God or you worship...Read More

Queen and Mother

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Today we celebrate the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This used to mark the end of the Octave of the Assupmtion, eight days of celebrating the special role that Mary had in salvation history and continues to have in the lives of the faithful. Just a week ago, many in the diocese of Lafayette participated in a day long Eucharistic procession by boat down the Bayou Teche in honor of Our Lady of the Assumption. This was significant because this year is the 250th anniversary of the Acadians migration from Nova Scotia to Louisiana where they live today. It...Read More

Taste and See

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19th Sunday OT, Year B  Deacon Albert St. John the Evangelist Cathedral https://sites.google.com/site/fatheralbertmedia/mp3/19%20Sun%20OT%20B.mp3 What a summer! ISIS still on rampage, a Supreme Court decision, shootings, constant political bickering, gut-wrenching undercover videos, financial chaos in Europe, and our own slump in the oil field … did I miss anything? Isn’t summer supposed to be a time of vacation and rest? But sports, school, and politics are just getting started – time, ordinary time doesn’t stop and the demands just keep coming. I don’t think I’m alone in wanting to shout to the heavens with Elijah: “This is enough, O Lord!” Maybe...Read More

Gathering up the Fragments

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17th Sunday OT, Year B   Deacon Albert St. John the Evangelist Cathedral https://sites.google.com/site/fatheralbertmedia/mp3/17%20Sun%20OT-B.mp3 “God… is over all and through all and in all.” Do we truly believe that? I mean, it is easy to say “yes, God is over all” when you watch a man multiply food and give you more than you can eat – when you lie back on the grass on a sunny day with a full stomach. It’s not hard to profess your faith that God is “in all” when we are surrounded by friends, family, and peace. Yet, do we profess these things when we...Read More

Weathering the Storm

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12th Sunday in Ordinary Time Deacon Albert St. John the Evangelist Cathedral https://sites.google.com/site/fatheralbertmedia/mp3/12%20Sun%20OT%20B.wav “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” The ship is the Catholic Church and we are the ones inside. Teacher, do you not see this huge storm of secularism that threatens to destroy the Church? The winds of change are blowing so fiercely that many in the world want to actually change what it means to be a family, a man or a woman. Christians are drinking the salt water of relativism and selfishness that has splashed over the sides of our ship. We are being...Read More

On the Outside looking In (Part II)

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Aaaand... we're back! Hope you enjoyed part I, here's part II: I've been surfing around the waves of Inside Out on the internet and came across this little beauty, which talks about a pretty significant message in the movie; that sadness has an important place in our lives. It's a fair point and I won't rehash it all here, but I do want to add a little commentary on the matter. Its worth calling to mind the fact that many conversion stories start with how a person hit rock bottom, faced the reality of their isolation, fear, pain, etc. and finally admitted...Read More

Why Bother?

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13th Sunday OT, Year B Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist Cathedral https://sites.google.com/site/fatheralbertmedia/mp3/13%20Sun%20OT%20B.wav “Why trouble the teacher any longer?” The Court has ruled, the conservatives lost, same-sex marriage is legal – so why bother the teacher any longer? Why bother your friends and family? Why bother the government? What did your prayers get you? Almost every Sunday, almost every parish includes the government and our country in its petitions at mass. Did we not go before our Lord and Teacher, fall on our knees, and plead with him to come quickly to our country? How many of us thought that...Read More

On the Inside looking Out (Part I)

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I'm back! and boy have things on this blog gotten turned upside down... or was it inside out? Either way, having grown up in the digital continent, I decided it was time to go see the physical world with its seven! continents - or try to at least. Apparently hurtz and bytes don't get much recognition in the physical world, and we don't exactly issue passports. Long story short, I spent most of that time stuck in a disconnected server bank on the third floor of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans - not a visit a recommend unless you...Read More

Faith in Action

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Wednesday in 11th Week OT,                                   Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist Cathedral https://sites.google.com/site/fatheralbertmedia/mp3/Wed%2011th%20OT%20Homily.wav             Faith is a virtue and a gift. Faith is not an arbitrary decision to agree with a given set of ideas, but it is a gift from God that is unearned and works by grace. It is also a virtue, a habit – it is the ability to see, to understand, and to trust things that are beyond mere reason.             Faith is supposed to result in actions – thats what virtues do. So,...Read More