Tag: Gospel

Homily for Mary, Mother of God: The Face of God

Posted on by Father Albert
Mary, Mother of God                                                                                     January 1, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/xwbShOVZNcg Do you think there was a resemblance? Between Mary and Jesus, I mean. Do you think it was obvious to anyone who looked that Jesus was Mary’s son? I do. After all, God did not just appear in her womb. The angel said she would conceive, that the child in her womb was taken from her flesh, her genetics. His father, God the Father, provided miraculously the rest of what is human and his divine nature as well. So the face of Jesus must...Read More

Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family: Subordinate to Love

Posted on by Father Albert
Holy Family, C                                                                                               December 26, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/dRPewa-4n48 What does the word “family” conjure up in you? Warmth? Safety? Stress and anxiety? Worry and loneliness? Sorrow and mourning? Family can put us through the full gamut of human emotion and experience. Sometimes seems like more trouble than it’s worth, but family is important. Jesus comes first, but Jesus also tells us that family is important both through his teaching in the Old Testament, through his personal example, and through the teaching handed on to us by his apostle, St. Paul. Some of you...Read More

Homily for Christmas: The Beginning

Posted on by Father Albert
Christmas                                                                                                        December 25, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/o5yM9yzUvDY There’s just something about a good beginning, isn’t there? When you first crack open a great book… when the last preview ends and the movie’s title screen comes up… the first day of college… your wedding day… the birth of a child… There’s a sense of possibility, of openness, of hope for more to come. I think perhaps that’s one reason so many people love Christmas. New gifts to enjoy, new memories to make. Not only is it just a week away from New Years, it’s...Read More

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent: Visiting Faith Upon The World

Posted on by Father Albert
4th Sunday of Advent, C                                                                                December 19, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/NsURWAp8Pik “Blessed are you who believed.” This is the way. I fear that too many people may have heard least week’s homily and concluded that the solution to anxiety is just gratitude. Gratitude does help to overcome anxiety, but the kind of gratitude that actually works depends on what is really the answer: faith. If you recall, the point I made was that, in the face of anxiety, we are called to trust so deeply in God’s providence that we can turn around and thank...Read More

Homily for the 3rd Week of Advent: Beating Anxiety

Posted on by Father Albert
3rd Sunday of Advent, C                                                                                December 12, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/sFDcOJ9jJHM Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel. It is Guadete Sunday, from the Latin word for rejoice… the same word used in that ancient and beautiful hymn and in our entrance antiphon. And that is not just a verb. It’s not just describing rejoicing. It is in the imperative mood, it is commanding us, saying “you must rejoice!” But to get there, we should perhaps first try to follow another command, one that St. Paul gives in the second reading: “Have no...Read More

Homily for the Immaculate Conception: Destiny and Freedom

Posted on by Father Albert
Immaculate Conception                                                                                 December 8, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/WaT2iEGRTls Destiny. What is destiny? What do we mean when we say something is a person’s destiny? That they have no choice? That life is beyond their control? I ask because St. Paul tells us we are “destined” for adoption by God through Jesus Christ. We have been “chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will.” And what is his will? “That we might exist for the praise of his...Read More

Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Advent: Preparing the Way for Grace

Posted on by Father Albert
2nd Sunday of Advent, C                                                                               December 5, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/Ec3WmCxwSBI Last week I urged you work at almsgiving, prayer, and fasting in order to be blameless in holiness. The world will end and it will end in great tribulation. The difference between our being victims on that day and our being victors on that day is this holiness. Please recall, however, that I warned you not to take up these sacred practices – almsgiving, prayer, and fasting – as proof of your own strength but as cooperation with grace, because it is grace that...Read More

Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent: Strong of Heart

Posted on by Father Albert
1st Sunday of Advent, B                                                                                 November 28, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/fdpnHZ8CicE So it begins. Today starts the Catholic new year, when our liturgical calendar starts all over. The birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the descent of the Holy Spirit. Again and again we cycle through these events, with the looming promise that one year, the cycle will end forever. Jesus will come a second time and that will be it. It’s why the first week of Advent doesn’t even mention Jesus’ birth. It’s why, at the start of what many people call...Read More

Homily for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Fighting to the End

Posted on by Father Albert
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                  November 14, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/EJS5nbER25o The end of the world. In one sense, we should fear it. In another, we should look forward to it. Fear it because it means destruction and suffering and death. Jesus himself calls it “tribulation” and Daniel the prophet is told “it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress.” Yet, we should look forward to it because it also means the end to our long battle… final victory. The angels will gather God’s “elect” and the “wise shall shine brightly.” That’s us… if...Read More

Homily for All Saints Day 2021: To Ascend the Mountain

Posted on by Father Albert
All Saints Day                                                                                                 November 1, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/Y-Gh-k4lSQk “Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD? or who may stand in his holy place?” So our psalm asks… it’s a version of the question “who goes to heaven?” Fitting on All Saints Day, the day we celebrate all those who have gone to heaven, whether we know their name or not. This is a day of joy, of celebration, of victory, of thanksgiving… the very meaning of the word Eucharist. Yet, it is also a day of wondering, “what will it take for...Read More