Tag: faith

Homily for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Aspiring to Greatness

Posted on by Father Albert
29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                  October 17, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/YMh_jINNQ5k “You can do whatever you set your mind to.” No, you can’t. This claim is made all the time by parents, teachers, advertisements, and politicians in our culture. Children are filled with this idea from the time they are very little and hear it repeated constantly until some brutal encounter with reality shatters this fragile illusion. Then they must choose between being willfully naive, coldly cynical, or coming to a greater realism. And few people really get to that last one. I once...Read More

Homily for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Riches That Burn

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26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                  September 26, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/FnF5xxxFkwU Here we are, the prophetic crescendo of the letter of St. James. And when I say “prophetic,” I don’t mean James is predicting the future but that he, like many prophets before him, strongly warns us about sin, death, and judgment. And James gets this preoccupation with damnation from his cousin, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Hell is real and people do go there. Damnation is real. It isn’t some medieval masochist who came up with the idea of eternal fire, but...Read More

Homily for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time: Eucharistic Coherence

Posted on by Father Albert
21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                  August 22, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/YgEbIEjTHfM “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve.” For five weeks we’ve journeyed through John chapter 6. We’ve reflected on hunger and weakness and fasting. We’ve considered the limitations of this world and that we need to work at having faith to live from an eternal perspective. We’ve challenged the temptation of focusing too much on what we can get instead of what we can give. We’ve rejoiced at the promises of the Eucharist, especially...Read More

Homily for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Food Worth Working For

Posted on by Father Albert
18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              July 25th, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/bQM64w1JMeg “You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” Is that what you’re doing? I said last week that hunger and need is good… that we actually should be hungry for what Jesus offers. It’s still true, but hunger can also mislead. This crowd begins with a willingness to sacrifice food to get to Jesus but ends up following Jesus precisely because he can give them food. That’s me! I have done that...Read More

Homily for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time: It Begins With Hunger

Posted on by Father Albert
17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              July 25th, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/SbCpnC6Ad1Q Are you hungry? Are you willing to be hungry? Because that’s how this whole thing starts. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life, the gift where God literally gives us himself… and it started with a crowd that was willing to go hungry. Not that they said anything about being hungry. These people saw paralyzed men get up and walk, fevers disappear, leprosy wiped away by Jesus. So they followed him without cell phones and google maps. Jesus was...Read More

Homily for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Lord Is Our Shepherd

Posted on by Father Albert
16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              July 18th, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/VD8LvVmGWeM “Like sheep without a shepherd.” It’s too easy to make these readings about pointing fingers; To point at the pope’s latest controversy or at the failures of various bishops or at whatever pastor did whatever you think was a problem. Online I’m sure you’ll find homilies and articles and blog posts that do exactly that this weekend. What good will it do? If you hear a homily or read something that uses the first reading and takes...Read More

Homily for the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Prophetic Patriotism

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14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              July 4th, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/NGyzAF_kXfA “He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Just a few verses before, as we heard last weekend, Jesus raised someone from the dead! He cured a woman simply because she touched his clothes with faith. Coming from the joy of being able to reward such faith, Jesus is astounded at the contrast, the hard-heartedness of his own friends and family that blocks them from seeing similar miracles. As an aside, if you’re wondering about the brothers...Read More

Homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Vending Jesus

Posted on by Father Albert
13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              June 27, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/6A679v2gTuE Jesus is not a vending machine. You can’t just go to Jesus, put in some faith, and then get what you want back. Yet, many people treat it like this. You can almost excuse them because it kinda seems to work in the gospels. Every time Jesus encounters someone with faith, he performs a miracle. When four friends bring a paralyzed man, he sees their faith and heals the man. He repeatedly tells people to have faith...Read More

Homily for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Expecting the Kingdom

Posted on by Father Albert
11th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              June 13, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/RjBofkd3nsE I first arrived in Jeanerette in February, about the time that those little yellow flowers take over just about every open space they can find. Each year since, I’ve looked forward to that time of year, especially since the yellow ones are then followed by white ones, then pink and blue and now we’re seeing the purple ones. As a community so rooted in farming, the spontaneity and variety of these flowers are an important reminder that...Read More

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter: Am I Real To You?

Posted on by Father Albert
3rd Sunday of Easter, B                                                                                               April 18, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/vzx11z22aOI Am I real to you? If we would continue our journey into joy, we have to answer this question from Jesus. Am I real to you? The Apostles evidently had their own struggles to accept it. Jesus appears to them and they think it is a ghost, a detached spirit. But it is not so! Jesus is real, his body is real, and he wants to prove it so we can be witnesses to it. He shows his hands...Read More