The Tower of Faith

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

How To Get Rich

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                        August 4, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette What does it mean to be rich? Having $100,000? $1,000,000? Someone who makes more than $200,000 a year is in the top ten percent of the world. And not just of the present day, but in all of history! Yet so many who make that much consider themselves “middle class” and say they worry about their finances. 70% of millionaires do not consider themselves wealthy.  How can that be? Well, for most people, when they make more, they spend more....Read More

Making Prayer Work

Seveneenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                                   July 28, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette What is a good way to ruin a human being? To make them immature, selfish and entitled? Give them everything they want as a child. We even call it “spoiling” a child when a parent instantly satisfies every desire. On the opposite extreme is to never give a child anything they want or need. They might become hard-working and self-sufficient, but they are plagued by difficulty in their relationships with God and others, usually because they have problems with...Read More