Tag: Darkness

Losing Jesus: Homily for St Joseph 2026

Posted on by Father Albert
St. Joseph, Husband of Mary                            March 19, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                      St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/J-uZJWt7usk How can you lose Jesus? More easily than you might think. Once, when were kids, my brother and I were on a camping trip with a bunch of other people. My brother is… not a morning person. So, when everyone else was getting out of their tents and preparing to go to the place where we’d go rock climbing, my brother was trying to grab a few extra minutes of sleep. Well, he got more than a few. With all the people and commotion,...Read More

Billboards & Mirrors: Homily for the 5th Sunday OT 2026

Posted on by Father Albert
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                              February 8, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville N.B. Technical difficulties during streaming mean the video is broken up and incomplete. https://youtu.be/uTQDN-xeZLM Audio Re-recorded: In 1835, a New York City printer named Jared Bell used his equipment to print an image on a special cloth-based paper that was 6 feet wide and 8 feet high. The specialized paper meant the image was durable enough to stay outside for a long time, thus marking the first ever modern billboard advertisement. Jared Bell used this cutting-edge marketing technology to advertise Barnum & Bailey’s circus....Read More

A Silence That Conquers: Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
5th Sunday of Easter, B                                                                                   April 28, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/yvVT2H8I6Y8 Darkness is the absence of light. Cold is the absence of heat. You can’t “get rid of” darkness and cold. You can only overcome them by adding light and heat. So also with evil. Evil is the absence of good. We don’t defeat evil just by fighting it really hard or running away from it. We defeat evil by running toward what is good and by allowing good to fill us such that it pushes evil away. But what about silence? Sure,...Read More

Dying To Live: Homily for the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  November 12, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/-jvAMZk0wIg To get right to the point: we are all going to die. Some people want to avoid this reality, even avoiding the word “funeral” and instead talking about a “celebration of life.” Of course we celebrate life! But we do so precisely because we know we’re going to die and that only by dying do we receive real life, eternal life with God. So it’s important to realize that death comes for us all. If we don’t want that reality to...Read More

What Is Chosen: Homily for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Posted on by Father Albert
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   October 15, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/dFZ1EfAg8as Beating the messengers again! Just last week Jesus told us about people who killed the messengers rather than pay their rent. I offered the hypothetical explanation that the tenants of the vineyard had no fruit to give, so they responded to their shame and fear by killing whoever threatened to expose it. Indeed, we often respond to God in the same way – lashing out whenever he dares to touch on our sins, wounds, and weaknesses. Afraid of how demanding God...Read More

Enough, Lord!: Homily for the Lafayette Eucharistic Rally 2023

Posted on by Father Albert
Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist                                                                 October 5, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               Cajundome Convention Center https://www.youtube.com/live/pnFJrLR7vKI?si=idBWav2wzPAOzWBQ&t=2211 “Enough, Lord!” Who among us has not made this exasperated prayer of Elijah our own? There’s usually joy and all kinds of good fortune that comes along with the first serious turn towards the Lord, but it seems only a matter of time before any committed believer reaches the point where they feel as he did – alone, burdened, and just plain weary of feeling like the harder they try to do the right thing, the more everything goes wrong....Read More

Light in the Darkness: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Father Albert
2nd Sunday Lent, A                                                                                         March 5, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/tPmcRz_qgxs To shine with the radiance of God, we must endure the cross. This is why Jesus tells his apostles not to share this glorious vision until after he has risen from the dead. It is why St. Paul tells Timothy and us to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel,” because what makes the gospel “good news” is this awareness of suffering and the cross. History bears this out. God promises to make Abraham into a great nation. You know your...Read More