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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What Did I Do Wrong?

Posted on by Father Albert
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                   September 29, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette To maintain order in my classroom, I used a warning system that involved writing students’ names on the board. Sometimes, when I wrote a name, I would get an immediate reaction from the child “But I didn’t do anything wrong! What did I dooo?” I wonder if the rich man in this parable had that same reaction? Because it’s not like he killed anyone, or stole anything, or lied, or worshiped pagan idols. He never hurt Lazarus. What was so...Read More

Dishonest Wealth

Posted on by Father Albert
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                    September 22, 2019Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette So, I keep saying that I see potential in this parish. Allow me to offer a list of possibilities during my term as pastor: establish a youth group, improve the parking lot, hire an outreach coordinator, deal with the old convent and school, offer ongoing adult formation in the parish, restore some of the Church’s former beauty, enrich our music program, start a children’s choir, host parish missions for lent and advent, increase our service to the poor, improve lighting...Read More

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