Tag: faith

What We Really Owe: Homily for the 29th Sunday OT 2026

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29th Sunday in Ordinary Time                                                            October 18, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/KNSv9RoT6Ok “Taxation is theft.” Certain conservative and libertarian political movements – even some Catholics sometimes say that. And you know what? They’re not always wrong. Some taxation is theft. Sometimes a government is a bully with power to take what they want. Even if that’s true, you should probably still pay taxes. Why? “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” Remember, Jesus is God. God. Infinitely powerful, all-knowing, and infinitely good. God says, “repay to Caesar.” For a lot of people, Caesar was a corrupt bully...Read More

The Door of Trust: Homily for the 28th Sunday OT 2026

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28th Sunday in Ordinary Time                                                            October 11, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/Vc1NZ_s-zck When emails, phone calls, and meetings start to weigh on me, I like to just walk into the cafeteria or playground at VC. Yeah, the hugs and high fives and excited shouts – “Fr. Albert!” – are awesome, but it’s also the questions. They’re often silly, but sometimes they are truly profound – the kind that explains why Jesus tells us to become like children… willing to ask and to trust Our Father with what matters most. One question I got recently from a 5-year-old...Read More

You Can Be Great: School Homily for the Memorial of St. Therese 2026

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Memorial of St. Therese of Lisieux                                                               October 1, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/m7ErMAI8mOg “You can do anything if you set your mind to it.” Maybe they don’t say that anymore – I hope not – but people used to say that all the time when I was a kid: “you can do anything if you set your mind to it.” The intention was to encourage kids to do great things, to build their confidence, and inspire them to dream big. That was the intention. It was not the effect. The human race has more anxiety now than...Read More

Better Than We Deserve: Homily for the 25th Sunday OT 2026

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25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   September 20, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/KeTsb9J-QAc Jacinta and Marto were 9 and 10 years old when they died just two years after seeing Mary at Fatima. They are now canonized saints who enjoy the eternal reward of heavenly glory. Antoni of the desert lived to be105 years old and Charalambos to 113. Both men endured several decades of intense penance and prayer. Charalambos was even tortured and martyred at the end of his long life. Both men are also canonized saints who enjoy the eternal reward of heavenly glory. Is...Read More

Untamed Faith: Homily for the 22nd Sunday OT 2026

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22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  August 30, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                  St. Mary Magadalen, Abbeville, LA https://youtu.be/67OBrwIGMZs “Is he quite safe?” “Safe?... who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe. But he's good.” C.S. Lewis uses that little dialogue to introduce the central Christ-figure of his books, The Chronicles of Narnia – a magical world full of talking animals in which God appears as a lion named Aslan. It’s what fiction stories are meant for – to take an idea that’s familiar to us and put in a different form so we can see it in a new...Read More

Put Me In, Coach: Homily for the 20th Sunday OT 2026

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20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   August 16, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                   St. Mary Magadalen, Abbeville, LA https://youtu.be/PKGsXlQav88 Here’s a modern day parable. A football coach was leading practice when a soccer player approached and said, “please help me be a better athlete.” The coach ignored him, focusing on leading passing drills. The soccer player kept insisting until the football players complained he was getting in the way. So the coach said to the soccer player, “I’m here to help my players get better at catching the ball, I can’t waste time on some foot lover.” The soccer...Read More

Love That Believes: Homily for the 19th Sunday OT 2026

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19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   August 9, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                   St. Mary Magadalen, Abbeville, LA https://youtu.be/19d4nHV-1E8 “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Because it’s kinda crazy to be walking on water, Jesus, that’s why! Like, it’s one thing to watch you heal people and do miracles. It doesn’t stretch our minds too much to say “okay, Jesus is special and has miraculous power, so of course he can heal people.” It’s quite a different thing to be standing on water in the middle of a storm! How does that even work? Were his...Read More

If You Love Me: Homily for the 18th Sunday OT 2026

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18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   August 2, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                   St. Mary Magadalen, Abbeville, LA https://youtu.be/8lNz9OUZfO8 “If you love me, then you would…” We all have experiences of people who claim to love us but then fail to act like it. We have all said we love and then failed to live it. It’s not about putting conditions on love, but there is room for putting conditions on believing someone when they claim to love us. When that claim does not match their actions they either lied to us, didn’t understand what they promised, or allowed...Read More

Our Transfigured Sister: Homily for Mary Magdalen’s Patronal Feast 2026

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Solemnity of St. Mary Magdalen, Patron of the Parish                                  July 19, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                   St. Mary Magadalen, Abbeville, LA https://youtu.be/ZcUhwWttMS0 The best day of my life was also the worst day of my life… if you can call that time period a “day.” It was more like a blur of three days where I’m not sure I slept or ate much. Reeling from a grace-filled decision to walk away from someone I loved and but still ensnared in a life I resented, I reached out desperately for mercy… and found it. Who knows how many nights I...Read More

Prophets of Word, Wonder, and Woe: Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter 2026

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6th Sunday of Easter, A                                                                                May 10, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/WjSH7jVxWws N.B. This is part 2 of a series. Part 1 is here. “He is going to marry that girl.” It sometimes happens that a parent says this about their child’s newest love interest without even meeting the love interest in question. Friends sometimes do the same thing. It’s what I said about my friend Adam when he first described his then-new-girlfriend to me, even though I never met her. And marry her he did. I didn’t know her but I got...Read More