Tag: faith

The Primacy of Grace: Homily for the 19th Sunday OT 2024

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19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   August 11, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville N.B. This is the third homily in a series. The second is here. https://youtu.be/vkwyEiRKMWc Mission trips, podcasts, retreats, books and articles, hard conversations, clever marketing, good music – all these strategies and more can be found in the Church’s efforts to evangelize non-believers and strengthen those who already believe. None of them are the most important tool, however. None of them are the most effective. Not to say that we can bypass these things. Last week, as we continued our journey...Read More

The Work of Belief: Homily for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024

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18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   August 4, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville N.B. This is the second homily in a series. The first is here. https://youtu.be/03__dket1y8 Last week, we saw the importance of bringing our hunger, our desires to Jesus no matter what they were. This allows Jesus to satisfy, heal, transform, or transcend those desires. Jesus was happy to multiply the loaves and feed the crowds last week, knowing they’d be hungry again and that they’d follow him. This time when they come to him, instead of feeding them again he deliberately...Read More

Left Wanting More: Homily for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024

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17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   July 27, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville This is the first in a series, the next homily continues here. https://youtu.be/nMHtaVvIdgU Whatever did or did not happen at the opening show of the Olympics, whatever was or was not intended by its designers, one thing is certain: we all need Jesus Christ. More than that, all human beings hunger for him, though we so often fail to realize that. Complicating things still further, we often try to satisfy that hunger with a substitute version of him. If indeed we...Read More

Just Have Faith: A Farewell Homily for St. Johns 13th Sunday OT 2024

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13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                               June 30, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/s4K85sXovSM As pastor here for just over 5 years, it is with great affection that I bid farewell to the community of St. John the Evangelist parish. I’ve tried to prepare y’all for what comes next, offering 3 pieces of parting advice. The first is to trust in Jesus Christ no matter what happens. The second is to avoid treating each other and your new pastor according to the flesh. As St. Paul puts it, “may you excel...Read More

Weathering the Storm: Homily for the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024

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12th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                               June 23, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/1cz9ycTjZgQ Storms are bound to come. In your personal life, your spiritual life, in the life of this parish community, there are bound to be storms of many different kinds. Things are going to change in this parish – that is inevitable with a new pastor. Good, bad, or otherwise, I cannot say what all those changes will ultimately be. All I can say is you, for your part, must cling to Jesus throughout them all. That’s pretty...Read More

How to Face the Devil: Homily for the 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024

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10th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                               June 9, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/7jJ_LRBpZNw There are two extremes that get the devil wrong. One is to deny he exists at all, to reduce him to a myth or literary symbol. The snake is a literary symbol, but it a symbol that represents the very real fallen angel named Satan. When we deny his existence, we leave ourselves defenseless. If a Catholic denies the existence of the devil, he risks the sin of heresy and being cut off from God’s grace. The...Read More

Being Love: Homily for Trinity Sunday 2024

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Trinity Sunday, B                                                                                                       May 26, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/LWnwLJEZS3w Three weeks ago, I focused on the teaching that God is love. But what is love? “Love is to will the good of the other.” If God is love, then this means that God’s very existence is to will the good of the other. We tend to think of existence or being as this kind of passive reality. If you ask me “what are you doing?” and I answer “existing,” you’d probably think “ah, so he’s doing nothing” and you’d...Read More

Easter Vigil – Part III of the Triduum: An Enduring Love

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Easter Vigil, B                                                                                                March 30, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/GafqqCduUs0 This is part III of a series for the Paschal Triduum. Part I of the series here. Part II of the series here. Love endures. At the Last Supper, Jesus revealed to us the new commandment of love and so we’ve taken love as the theme of this Paschal Triduum. That new love called us to serve in a way that makes another person our “own.” Because such love cannot set aside the truth, that love turned deadly yesterday when it brought Jesus to...Read More

A Clean Heart: Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent 2024

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5th Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                      March 17, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/Rq7nymESj0w When I was a kid, my boy scout troop would take rock climbing trips. Now, we all knew that falling from a great height can kill you, which is why we were careful to use ropes, harnesses, and anchors to keep us safe. We were taught how to use it and we knew that the gear was perfectly safe. But when you’re 70 feet off the ground, barely clinging to a tiny handhold and your feet start to sleep… you suddenly know the power...Read More

A Trigger Warning: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent 2024

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2nd Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                     February 25, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/vEuAWfzPkKY Image by CC 2.0 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/gcfairch/4189169360 A story. A true one, as far as I know. At a church elsewhere in Louisiana, there was a young pastor who once opened the door to find a gun pointed straight at him. Holding that gun was a nervous looking man who rather shakily said, “Father, I’m sorry but God told me I have to kill you.” Inspired, he quipped, “oh, God just told me to tell you that you don’t have to kill me anymore.” The...Read More