Category: Blog

Your good old-fashioned blog, It’s where I reflect on (but not exactly “review”) a variety of movies and where I post my thoughts on different issues as it seems necessary.

Keep Watch With Me: Homily for Palm Sunday 2026

Posted on by Father Albert
Palm Sunday, A                                                                                           March 29, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/PSgb2kBhC1s Who wins? The chief priests? Not when the veil of the sanctuary is torn. Judas? Certainly not when he takes his own life. Pontius Pilate? Not when he has to answer to his wife who asked him not to do it. The disciples? Not when they fell asleep in the garden, not in their futile attempt to use the sword, not when they fled and not when Peter denies Jesus. Who wins in the end, then? Jesus wins in his resurrection. But we aren’t there yet. Who...Read More

Jubilee, Pilgrimage, and going to Rome

Posted on by Father Albert
I'm going to Rome. Who's coming with me? Why go to Rome? Because it's a jubilee year! It's a time of special grace, an opportunity to manifest to ourselves and to the world that this lifelong pilgrimage we call life has a goal: heaven. Ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, humanity has been searching for a way back into paradise. All of human history is the story of mankind trying to find or create paradise and failing. The Tower of Babel? A wrong-headed attempt to build our way into paradise. So God scattered that. Then...Read More

Pastor Column: Receiving Communion Well

Posted on by Father Albert
[N.B. This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article from the bulletin of June 11, 2023]      This feast is a fitting time to encourage everyone to reflect on how they receive communion. St. Paul warns us that “anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Cor 11:29).      Before coming to Mass and before receiving communion, do you carefully examine your conscience to determine if you are in the right state to receive? Catholics are encouraged to receive communion often, but there are requirements. Besides being Catholic, they must not...Read More

Pastor Column: Pope St. John XXIII

Posted on by Father Albert
[Note: This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article for the bulletin of Oct 30, 2022]      Although Pope Pius XII wrote many other encyclicals, most of those focused on specific historical events - things like missions in Africa, conflict in Hungary, anniversaries of various events, and some canonizations. As he aged, Pius XII slowed down a little. In 1954 he fell gravely ill and considered abdication. He frequently relied on a few close colleagues to continue the work of the Church, though he did continue to address the public and respond to specific questions. One of the...Read More

Pastor Column: Queenship of Mary

Posted on by Father Albert
[N.B. This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article for the bulletin of October 23, 2022]      Our next letter from Pope Pius XII is on the Queenship of Mary, titled Ad Caeli Reginam(Latin for ‘to the Queen of Heaven”), published in 1954. Recall that it was Pius XII who formally declared the Assumption of Mary into heaven to be a dogma. Following up on that declaration, the pope decided to offer a reflection on the power and influence of Mary as an intercessor in heaven. As always, his teaching on this is not some new idea, but...Read More