Tag: Church

Sacramental & Human: Homily for Holy Family Sunday 2025

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Feast of the Holy Family, A                                                       December 28, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                          St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/EWkdXx9XLzo It’s kind of weird, isn’t it? Mary was conceived without sin. Mary is the most perfect servant of God to ever exist. Mary gave birth to God’s own son. Yet, Mary gets exactly one visit from an angel. But Joseph? He gets not one, but four visits from angels. There’s the first confirming Mary’s claim before Jesus is born. Then there are the three we see today. One telling him to flee to Egypt, another telling him to go home,...Read More

What’s In A Name: Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent 2025

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4th Sunday of Advent, A                                                                  December 21, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/KGRQCZBwWtE Myth. Legend. Liar. Lunatic. The cause of wars. The symbol of oppression, hatred, and discrimination. The angry judge. The source of guilt and repression. The role model. The teacher. The nice guy. The Lord. The Savior… When you call upon Jesus, when you think or speak of him, how do you name him? Because everyone of those titles, every one of those “names” has been applied to Jesus of Nazareth. But this is not a sociological question. It is a personal one. What do...Read More

In Accord With The Kingdom: Homily for 2nd Sunday Advent 2025

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2nd Sunday of Advent, A                                                                December 7, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/gL_YwlId6KI I feel as though being a priest, a spiritual father entitles me to the occasional dad joke, so here’s a bible dad joke: What kind of car does Jesus have? A Honda, but he doesn’t drive it: “I came not of my own accord, but he sent me” (Jn 8:42, RSV). Really though, what is this “accord” scripture speaks of? St. Paul today in our second reading prays that “with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our...Read More

Building God’s Kingdom: Stewardship Homily 26th Sunday OT 2025

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26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                                                                   September 28, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/EVg8DU3e1rU “The Big Church.” When a small town has multiple churches, I often hear that phrase “the big church.” Especially in Acadiana, that tends to be the largest Catholic Church in the area. Usually, “the Big Church” is not only physically imposing, it’s got a long history, a lot of people, and a lot of stuff going on. In Abbeville, we are the “Big Church,” which makes sense. Look at this place! Big, beautiful, historic, lots of people. Thanks to your generosity, this Church...Read More

Sacramental Vision: Homily for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul 2025

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Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul                                                               June 29, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/bSt9aI65OsU Is a flower just a plant? Just a briefly living thing that withers and dies? Is a building just a composite of materials in a useful shape? In one sense, yes. In a far more important sense, no. Nothing is “just” that thing. A flower picked by a man in love and given to his beloved is obviously something more, but good luck in trying to measure that. In every culture, buildings are always more than just the shape and stuff....Read More

Embodying Spirit and Truth: Homily for the Dedication Anniversary 2025

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Anniversary of the Church's Dedication                                                        January 31, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/16rkHc4GtE0 “Worship in Spirit and Truth.” What does that look like exactly? Clearly, Jesus doesn’t think it requires being in a certain location. In a single line, he completely bypasses a theological debate going back centuries between the Samaritans and Jews about which place is the right place to worship. Even while Jesus says the Jews are right, he moves past the debate to make this point about spirit and truth. Which kind of raises a question: if the location doesn’t matter,...Read More

Being Love: Homily for Trinity Sunday 2024

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Trinity Sunday, B                                                                                                       May 26, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/LWnwLJEZS3w Three weeks ago, I focused on the teaching that God is love. But what is love? “Love is to will the good of the other.” If God is love, then this means that God’s very existence is to will the good of the other. We tend to think of existence or being as this kind of passive reality. If you ask me “what are you doing?” and I answer “existing,” you’d probably think “ah, so he’s doing nothing” and you’d...Read More

A Trigger Warning: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent 2024

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2nd Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                     February 25, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/vEuAWfzPkKY Image by CC 2.0 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/gcfairch/4189169360 A story. A true one, as far as I know. At a church elsewhere in Louisiana, there was a young pastor who once opened the door to find a gun pointed straight at him. Holding that gun was a nervous looking man who rather shakily said, “Father, I’m sorry but God told me I have to kill you.” Inspired, he quipped, “oh, God just told me to tell you that you don’t have to kill me anymore.” The...Read More

Heavenly Treasure: Homily for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   November 19, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/jK9ymiP5ZJ4 Every now and then, someone asks me if the world is going to end soon. Just Friday, in fact, a woman at a store asked me that question based on what is happening in the middle east right now. I gave her my standard answer: “every generation of Christians thinks the end is near.” I put it that way to make a few points: First is that worrying about the end of the world isn’t new. Secondly, everyone who thought the...Read More