Tag: faith

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

Posted on by Father Albert
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

Posted on by Father Albert
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

Posted on by Father Albert
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

Posted on by Father Albert
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

Keep Watch With Me: Homily for Palm Sunday 2026

Posted on by Father Albert
Palm Sunday, A                                                                                           March 29, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/PSgb2kBhC1s Who wins? The chief priests? Not when the veil of the sanctuary is torn. Judas? Certainly not when he takes his own life. Pontius Pilate? Not when he has to answer to his wife who asked him not to do it. The disciples? Not when they fell asleep in the garden, not in their futile attempt to use the sword, not when they fled and not when Peter denies Jesus. Who wins in the end, then? Jesus wins in his resurrection. But we aren’t there yet. Who...Read More

The Cost of Yes and No: Homily for the Annunciation 2026

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Solemnity of the Annunciation                                                                March 25, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/RldaNxT7TU0 If a known and proven prophet came to you and offered to do any one miracle you wanted, what would you ask for? Healing? A spectacular vision of heaven? Some impossible thing like the sun dancing across the sky? We know God can and has done miracles like that, so what would you ask for? When it’s hypothetical, I bet most of us could come up with something we’d ask for. In reality, however, many of us… perhaps most of us wouldn’t ask for anything. Why...Read More

Losing Jesus: Homily for St Joseph 2026

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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

To See Joy: Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent 2026

Posted on by Father Albert
4th Sunday of Lent, A                                                                                 March 15, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/AWIMSO5cuWY Can you see joy? Maybe. There’s one trend in short internet videos that I enjoy which captures the change in someone’s expression before and after they see someone or something they love. One version involves professional photographers who do something to get a more genuine smile. I’ve seen one kick their shoe at the person to make them laugh. My favorite involves a guy who suddenly breaks out a literal sword for them to hold. You should see the way people smile when they’re holding...Read More

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