Tag: faith

Not By Sight: Homily for the Funeral of Unclaimed Bodies 2026

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Funeral Mass for the Unclaimed Bodies                                                      March 5, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/7l4POdGvkYs “We walk by faith, not by sight.” It’s a common expression among us Christians. We often hear it in preaching and in the lives of the saints. We’ve just heard the part of scripture it comes from: St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. And the context of that saying is important because it tells us what the original point was. It is meant as an expression to help us face death because none of us can see past death. And...Read More

The Breadth of Faith: Homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent 2026

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1stSunday of Lent, A                                                                              February 22, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/q9cjTNgWNJ4 What’s the big deal? It’s just a piece of fruit. How can something as small as eating one wrong piece of fruit be so bad that it breaks the whole world, gets Adam & Eve banned from the garden, and causes human beings for the rest of time to become weaker, dumber, and doomed to die? Isn’t that a bit unfair? Apparently not. Because God is just. God is good. If God, who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly good says this is the right consequence, then...Read More

Where is God? Homily for Christmas 2025

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Christmas                                                                                         December 25, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/KaOd3emzO4s “Where is God?” Agnes Bojaxhiu once asked a variation of that question to a bishop during adoration. Agnes was born in 1910 to a devoutly Catholic family. Besides their daily prayers and weekly Mass attendance, the family also expressed their faith in and love of the invisible God with a weekly visit to the poor to bring food and clothes and company. Like any Catholic family and even many secular ones, Christmas was a time of joy and celebration and family and...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

The Joy of Poverty: Homily for Gaudete Sunday 2025

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3rd Sunday of Advent, A                                                             December 14, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                         St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville N.B. Technical Difficulties meant the recording failed this week. You don’t have to feel Catholic in order to be Catholic. You don’t have to feel Catholic in order to be Catholic. Somehow, American Catholics bought into the lie that practicing a faith you don’t feel deep down makes you a hypocrite, that acting Catholic while you have doubts makes you a hypocrite. It doesn’t. How do I know? Because we have an example no less illustrious than John the Baptist himself. Look again at what...Read More

What We Know: Homily for All Souls Day 2025

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All Souls Day                                                                                     November 2, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/-50x9MAY37M “I know he will rise.” Not “I believe,” not “I think,” not even “I hope.” I know he will rise. How? How can this unimportant woman from a small town outside of Jerusalem know someone will rise from the dead? Because faith is not a guess or an opinion. It is a supernatural conviction of truths that are beyond our natural reason. Faith is not opposed to knowledge. It is not opposed to reason. It is an extraordinary way of knowing. Of course, it is...Read More

Will He Find Faith Here? Homily for the 29th Sunday OT 2025

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29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                                                                   October 19, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/LnoLBi-jlxw It’s one of the most frightening questions in all of scripture. “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” For the third week in a row, our Gospel has called attention to the virtue of faith. This time we see a shift in focus: not just faith, but faith in preparation for the end of the world. Jesus doesn’t just want us to have faith. He wants us to keep faith and, more importantly, to spread faith. The fact...Read More

Faith, Gratitude, and Salvation: Homily for the 28th Sunday OT 2025

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28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                                                                   October 12, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/PeIKEth-UP0 A man was about to be late for an important meeting. Knowing that the right parking spot could make all the difference, he began to pray as he got close to the parking lot: “Lord, if you help me find the right parking space, I’ll…” Just then he spotted a place right by the door “nevermind, Lord, found one!” That’s a classic story of being ungrateful to the Lord, but let me tell you a true story of gratitude from my own life....Read More

Finding More Faith: Homily for the 27th Sunday OT 2025

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27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                      October 5, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                         St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/ecVE1rJ4MGY “Increase our faith!” Ten out of Ten, excellent prayer, would recommend. Learn from the Apostles to pray like that. One man says to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief!” I try to pray that prayer every day. Faith is a gift, so asking for it is a particularly effective way to increase it. It also helps to remind us that it is a supernatural virtue infused into the soul by God. So, when interacting with those who don’t have faith, it’s...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