Believe, Relate, Love

Homily for Trinity Sunday                                                                             May 27, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity. This doctrine matters. It should change you. This doctrine should be a radical and defining part of your life. Maybe that seems a bit counter-intuitive to you. The Trinity seems kind of obscure and hard to grasp, right? It is the teaching that there is one God who is Three Persons. It’s a mystery, we are told. It’s said to be a profound...Read More

Christian Avengers: The Origin Story

Homily for the Pentecost                                                                                May 20, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  Just a few weeks ago, a new world record was set. The biggest opening weekend for a movie, ever. Avengers: Infinity War passed up the competition by over $100 million. There are many external reasons for this: a long build up, great advertising, and good timing. But, we have to give credit to the story itself. It’s a comic book movie, a massive story about superheroes – the idea that people with special gifts and abilities work together to stop...Read More

Heavenly Heritage

Homily for the Ascension                                                                               May 12, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  What is your heritage? What is your ancestry? This has been a year of coincidences: Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. Palm Sunday and the Annunciation. Easter and April Fools day. Now it is Ascension Sunday and, for the people of New Iberia, today is the day we celebrate our Spanish origins. It’s also Mother’s Day, a celebration of our heritage and ancestry in the direct and personal way of celebrating our mothers. And our heritage does matter. It is part...Read More

Saved by Free Gift or by Free Will?

Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter                                                     May 6, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                      St. Peter’s, New Iberia  Well, which is it? Are we saved because God loves us or because we obey him? It really seems like Scripture is talking out of both sides of its mouth. The first reading emphasizes doing what is right. The second reading God’s love. And the Gospel seems to flip flop! In that first reading, we see Cornelius being baptized. He was a Roman – a Pagan. But, he evidently acknowledged the God of Israel and even gave money...Read More

Do you belong?

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter                                April 22, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                              St. Peter’s, New Iberia  Do you belong? Do you belong to St. Peter’s parish? To the Church as a whole? Sure, many of you are registered parishioners and many of you contribute to the collection, but do you really belong? And it’s not like Fr. Blanda and I just want to brag about the numbers. Truly, this is a question that should matter to you more than anyone else. Because, well, Jesus is quite blunt about what it means for you...Read More

Shepherded by Love

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter                               April 22, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                 St. Peter’s, New Iberia  “A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” Perhaps these are the words that the Holy Spirit whispers to Peter as he stands before these Jewish leaders, the very same people who killed Jesus. Surely, he knows that challenging these men could very well lead to his death, but it does not stop him. Like a good shepherd, this first Pope boldly proclaims that “There is no salvation through anyone [other than Jesus Christ], nor is there any...Read More

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter                                                       April 15, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  Christianity is on trial. The world is our courtroom and the whole human race is the Jury. The charge is simple: we claim that Jesus rose from the dead and that this means everyone should repent of their sins. And do you know where you are in this trial? The witness stand. Yes, every single Christian believer is testifying to this truth. But we are losing. The vast majority of humanity… about 5 billion people do not...Read More
Via Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/441352832209259519/

Bring Your Baggage

Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday                                            April 8, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                   St. Peter’s, New Iberia  When you’ve been on a long trip, what’s the first thing you want to do when you get back? Perhaps you like to take a nap, grab a bite to eat, or just take a few moments to unwind. But what if, instead of all that, you were to go over to your neighbor’s house, take out the trash, mow the lawn, sweep, mop and clean up their whole house? Sounds fun? Well, that’s kind of what Jesus did. Jesus...Read More
Via Wikimedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TheResurrectionOfChrist.jpg

Disproving Christianity

Homily for Easter Sunday                                                                              April 1, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                            St. Peter’s, New Iberia  Christianity is easy to disprove. Or at least, it should be. Our faith, the whole religion, the entire worldwide, two millennia old Catholic Church rests upon a single historical fact: that Jesus actually rose from the dead. If you can show that Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we are a bunch of fools… two billion people radically altering their lives all for the sake of some supposedly miraculous Jew from two thousand years ago… that would...Read More
Via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_thorns#/media/File:Christ_Carrying_the_Cross_1580.jpg

What is Truth?

Homily for Good Friday                                                                     March 30, 2018 Fr. Albert                                                                                           St. Peter’s, New Iberia  “What is Truth?” Pilate asks Jesus this question and our Lord says nothing in return. But he does give him an answer, just not with words. Yesterday at the Last Supper, we reflected on the meaning of words in general and one word in particular, love. We saw that Jesus’ new commandment, “love one another as I have loved you,” is a deadly, but truly beautiful command. Today however, we will not go very far with words. Love, and its...Read More