Tag: Grace

Homily for the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time: What Faith Isn’t

Posted on by Father Albert
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                                   October 2, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/LlcdLUKsOB4 It’s not just willpower, you know. Faith is not stirring up some kind interior resolve to summon mystical powers and do the impossible. When Jesus gives this example of the mustard seed moving the mulberry tree, he doesn’t mean that if you dig down enough and just believe in yourself, you can levitate giant trees into the ocean. You see, faith is not just willpower or self-confidence. Faith is a virtue. Now, I say that – “faith...Read More

Homily for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time: Strive

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21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                                   August 21, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/bvUNadKwPHM What are you really after? When you ask a question like “will only a few people be saved,” what is the real question? The deeper motivation? I think it could be several things; most of them aren’t good. Most of them come back to pride. We might want to know how many people will be saved out of a simple desire to have the answer. The one who asks Jesus this question is probably thinking about a...Read More

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

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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 Christmas: The Beginning

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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 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 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Riches That Burn

Posted on by Father Albert
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 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Love or Passion?

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25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                  September 19, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/PQeOTknERwA Love God and love your neighbor. It’s our mission statement and it is the greatest commandment. Love of neighbor in particular is the driving theme of St. James’ letter that we’ve been working through for a few weeks. Today, James addresses one of the great obstacles to actually doing this: why is it so hard to love our neighbor? To embrace poverty and sacrifice in order to be closer to God? In a word, your passions. What is a passion? Your passions are...Read More

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

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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

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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 Corpus Christi: To Be Holy

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Corpus Christ, B                                                                                                         June 6, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/fBzupiSJ_MA On October 10, 2020 in Assisi, the Church beatified a young Italian named Carlo. He was born in 1991, meaning he would be younger than me if he were still alive. He is the first millennial to be beatified, which is the last step before being canonized as a saint. When we say that word – saint – we tend to picture 16th century nuns or old miracle-working priests or paintings with halos. We imagine them praying or fasting or...Read More