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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The Weirdness of God

Posted on by Father Albert
Homily for Mass @ CHS – St. Januarius                                                       September 19, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                            Catholic High, New Iberia Earlier today in Naples, Italy, the Archbishop went into the Cathedral, reached into a sacred shrine and took out a container with something very special inside. It is the blood of someone who died a long time ago and it is blood that performs miracles. The blood of St. Januarius, who died as a martyr 1700 years ago, is kept in a glass container in the Naples Cathedral. This blood, long since dried out after it was first shed,...Read More

Finding Lost Souls

Posted on by Father Albert
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                 September 15, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Well, wasn’t that a long Gospel? And why so long… why three parables instead of one? Wasn’t the one about the sheep enough? We sin, God comes to get us, and everything is great after. Did we really need to stand so long to listen to the rest? Yes, we did. Not every sinner is the same. Not every path to repentance is the same so we need to hear more than one way for the Mercy of God to...Read More

The Tower of Faith

Posted on by Father Albert
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                   September 8, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette If you think I’ve been optimistic about what people get out of going to a Sunday Mass, then you’ve already realized something very important: Mass is not for beginners. Repenting from sin, putting effort into the same old responses every week, and “feasting” on readings we don’t always understand. Add to these the incredible belief that bread and wine invisibly turn into God himself, and you’d be crazy to think just anybody would “get it” after one visit. This is...Read More

The Feast

Posted on by Father Albert
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                            September 1, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Jesus likes food so much, he actually became food. Even before giving the Eucharist to his Apostles, you can see it in his ministry. Here he is at dinner with a pharisee and offers two lessons involving food. Really, they are more about about the occasion: a meal, a gathering to share food and company. And that is, in part, what we do here at Mass. The past two weeks have been about what you do before Mass – repentance...Read More

Striving to Sing

Posted on by Father Albert
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                    August 25, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette “I’m a good person. I never killed anyone.” I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that. People often say this to me whenever the subject of hell comes up, or confession, or the need for repentance. Just last week, Jesus warned us that really following him will cause division because repentance means being divided from sin. We saw how the Mass itself expects us to take repentance seriously, asking us to repent at least twice every time we come...Read More

The Power of Unanswered Prayer

Posted on by Father Albert
Homily for Mass @ CHS – Queenship of Mary                                            August 22, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                            Catholic High, New Iberia When you go to Disney World, don’t forget to go to Sunday Mass. There are a few options in the area, but the closest one is a church called the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe. That’s what we celebrate today. Mary is the Queen of the Universe. As the mother of the King, Mary is queen of not only the physical universe, but of heaven itself. What do you think of when you...Read More

The Questions of Death

Posted on by Father Albert
Funeral - Gracie Brasseaux                                                                            August 19, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                                        OLPH New Iberia Gracie. That sweet, sensitive girl in my 3rd period religion class. Gracie the creative, clever girl with a quick wit. The girl who ended up on the board in class almost every day but also had some of the best questions. The girl confident enough to challenge me but surprised and incredulous when I told her I thought that her voice had potential and she should join the choir. I loved Gracie. We all did. We still do. And...Read More

Jesus the Merciful Arsonist

Posted on by Father Albert
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                         August 18, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Jesus the Son of God is also Jesus the Divine Arsonist. Right here he says, “I have come to set the earth on fire!” It’s a dramatic way of saying he wants the whole earth to burn with the love God has for us and the love we ought to have for God and each other. But that’s not the only dramatic image he uses. Immediately after this reference to the fires of love, he seems to contradict himself: “Do...Read More

Victory!

Posted on by Father Albert
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary                                                        August 15, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Victory! We are here to celebrate victory over sin, death, and decay.. That’s why Mary’s Assumption matters. By being taken body and soul into heaven, she is a sign to all of us what awaits us in heaven. It may be the last enemy to be destroyed, but death is defeated so completely that even our bodies will last forever one day. It’s true that this isn’t explicitly in scripture. Then again, neither is the word Trinity or the phrase...Read More

Faith After Failure

Posted on by Father Albert
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                        August 11, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette We have failed you. Three generations of Catholics failed by the clergy. Rather than being the “faithful and prudent steward[s]” Jesus talks about, we priests and bishops have been careless and foolish. Just yesterday (Friday), a study was released that showed that 70% of Catholics do not believe the Eucharist is the actual Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Even among those who go to Mass every week, 30% say they think the Eucharist is just a symbol....Read More