Category: Homilies

I post the text and audio of my Sunday homilies here for anyone who wants to go back to something they liked or catch something they missed. I sometimes include links to resources that I mention, so that you aren’t left guessing how to follow up on anything I may have challenged you to do.

I put up every weekend homily and the homilies for special feast days like Christmas or the Assumption.

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Homily for Holy Thursday: The Authority to Love, Triduum pt 1.

Posted on April 15, 2022April 17, 2022 by Father Albert

Mass of the Lord's Supper Part 1 of Triduum 2022 April 14, 2020Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette [See part 2 here] [See part 3 here] https://youtu.be/tzTHradX2h0 What is freedom? What is authority? What is power? As we enter into the most sacred time of the year – the Paschal Triduum – I return to my custom of offering a prolonged reflection on a theme. Over these three homilies – today, tomorrow, and for Easter – we will, with God’s help, explore the meaning of freedom and authority. And it starts right here with...Read More

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent: The Seriousness of Sin

Posted on April 3, 2022April 3, 2022 by Father Albert

Lent Sun 5, C April 3, 2022Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/QgizjQEXI7Y Imagine if this scenario went a bit differently. Let’s say Jesus was walking through Jerusalem and came across a small group of people. Let’s say one of them was this woman who had committed adultery and that someone else in the group casually mentioned that fact and then, after some awkward moments, the rest of the group walks away and Jesus is left alone with the woman. He then looks at her and says, “don’t worry about your past, just try to...Read More

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent: A Home Worth Returning To

Posted on March 27, 2022March 27, 2022 by Father Albert

Lent Sun 3, C March 20, 2022Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/l7ghhJTgHao “How many of my Father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat?” So the lost son wonders to himself just before he returns. It is this insight that finally draws him back home… that shows us how, without even leaving his home, the Father rescued his son from sin. We know the demographics. We all have or at least know someone who has children who have left the Church and even who have left the family altogether. So often I...Read More

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent: The Choice of the Tree

Posted on March 20, 2022March 20, 2022 by Father Albert

Lent Sun 3, C March 20, 2022Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/CJDmSHCgal4 “For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none.” For three weeks now, we have been in Lent. Have we born fruit? The answer to that question determines everything. Think about it. Why does Jesus decide to say three years? That was the same amount of time for his ministry on earth. In other places in the gospels, Jesus makes a comparison between the fig tree and the chosen people, the Israelites....Read More

Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent: Woken to Glory

Posted on March 13, 2022March 13, 2022 by Father Albert

Lent Sun 2, C March 13, 2022Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/TY0G80EN9fQ “Stay woke.” Perhaps you’ve heard some variation of this phrase. Maybe it’s a positive thing to you or maybe you think of it as a kind of insult. Like so many catchphrases, the meaning has shifted over time and it means different things to different people. It was originally meant to encourage people to stay alert to what is really going on behind the scenes… to see past what “the man” tells you. Or it’s being sensitive to injustices that permeate our...Read More

Pastor Column: St. Joseph

Posted on March 13, 2022March 13, 2022 by Father Albert

[Note: This is not the Sunday Homily. It is a column from the bulletin of March 13, 2022] This coming Saturday is the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary. Like Mary, St. Joseph holds a special place in our faith because of his role in raising Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Mary is the greatest of all the saints, unique because she was Immaculately Conceived and became the virginal mother of Jesus. Mary is fully human, but is unlike us in that she never experienced Original Sin. St. Joseph, unlike his spouse, was born with Original...Read More

Homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent: Cycle of Victory

Posted on March 6, 2022March 6, 2022 by Father Albert

Lent Sun 1, C March 6, 2022Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/WTKMEYA2nX0 Identity. Trial. Thanksgiving. This is the pattern for us in life and the pattern laid out for us at the beginning of Lent. It begins by knowing who we are and what makes us who we are. This identity is challenged, attacked, tried by the Adversary, Satan. And what sustains us through it all is to receive the gifts of God and return it to him with thanksgiving. Jesus was just baptized in the river Jordan. He is revealed as the Son...Read More

Homily for Ash Wednesday: Now Is The Time

Posted on March 2, 2022March 2, 2022 by Father Albert

Ash Wednesday March 2, 2022Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/mkRPK6aA8UQ “Now is the day of salvation.” This is similar to a popular piece of advice: “live in the present moment.” There’s a piece of truth in that popular adage. The reality is that we only have the present. The past is gone and the future is not here. The present moment is most real, most important. But this only goes so far. Another, related popular dictum is “live with no regrets” as if being in the present moment justifies never considering past mistakes. If all...Read More

Homily for the 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time: The Glorified Body

Posted on February 27, 2022March 13, 2022 by Father Albert

8th Sunday OT, C February 27, 2022Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/c05HN4gP32g How do we win? Where is our victory? Does not our faith promise victory over evil, sin, and death? The Ukraine crisis, rising secularism, persecution of Christians throughout the world, Covid, cancer, dementia, rising costs, fewer jobs… When you start looking for it, you can stack up quite the list of things going wrong. And we have to be realists. We can’t pretend to not see what it right in front of our eyes, but we do have the choice of what we...Read More

Homily for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time: The Cult of Convenience

Posted on February 20, 2022February 20, 2022 by Father Albert

7th Sunday OT, C February 20, 2022Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/w1XBvI_Ez00 One huge mistake of the Church in the past 60 years, in my opinion, is we made the Catholic faith too convenient. In part, it’s a psychological thing. Human beings naturally place more value in things that are expensive, difficult, or rare. I’ve seen studies that show how strict religions tend to succeed more than easier ones. I’ve seen in myself and in others that when something is just given to us or made too easily available, we tend to neglect it and...Read More