A Story Worth Repeating: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent 2025

2nd Sunday of Lent, C                                                                                     March 16, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/hXBuswJd0aw Perhaps you’ve heard this story from me before. If so, I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. One summer as boy, I got to trek through the mountains in northern New Mexico in a crew of mostly 14 and 15 year-old boys. For 10 days we wound through the mountains. The final leg of the trip brought us to back base camp by way of the mountain called the Tooth of Time. So, on that final night, we...Read More

God’s Glory Revealed: Homily for the Epiphany 2025

Epiphany                                                                                                         January 5, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/0DchO0T-Kmg Glory! Splendor! Radiance! Majesty! Magnificence! Awesomeness! We have a lot of words to describe greatness and the bible uses most of them to describe God, though I don’t think “awesomeness” shows up in any mainstream translation… Today’s feast of the Epiphany celebrates the fact that God has indeed revealed his splendor to the world. Perhaps, sitting in this incredible church with hundreds of other people, hearing beautiful music, and being familiar with our Catholic faith all make it easy for us to...Read More

The Celebration Continues: Homily for the Queenship of Mary 2024

Queenship of Mary                                                                                         August 22, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville N.B. This is a sequel to the homily for the Assumption of Mary. https://youtu.be/u4GFnnLurpM A week later and here we are again, celebrating something about Mary the Mother of God. Once again, it is worth asking: why? As with her Assumption into heaven, there are many reasons that all come back to one reason: to glorify Jesus Christ her son, God incarnate. And what is it that we celebrate this time? Mary’s queenship. It’s not an accident that it is exactly a week after...Read More

How Ought We To Pray? Homily for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                               July 23, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/XzE9cl6zTII “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought.” That’s comforting, but it does raise an important question: How “ought” we to pray? Last week we heard about the groaning of all creation and how we are awaiting “adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” We used this to reflect on how that groaning and hope allow us to “consider the sufferings of this present time as nothing.” Today’s section...Read More

For Glory: Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent, A

5th Sunday Lent, A March 26, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/AKSYbw8Q1jQ “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” Yes. The answer to that question and others like it is yes. “Can’t God just stop people from suffering? Isn’t He all powerful? Couldn’t he heal all cancer, stop all violence, save all children?” Yes, he could do those things just as he could have simply prevented Lazarus from dying. Not only did Jesus not prevent Lazarus’ death, he didn’t even hurry....Read More

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Salty or Sterile

5th Sunday OT, A                                                                                           February 5, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/ABe_E_BBg5U “You are the light of the world.” Think about a room full of candles. It’s pretty easy to read with ten candles lit, but not so easy with only one. And an unlit candle or a hidden lamp is almost worse than useless, casting shadows where it should be adding light. “If salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Do you know what happens...Read More