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

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

Do I Will It? Homily for the 6th Sunday OT, 2024

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                     February 11, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/lOVg2MYP1SY “I do will it. Be made clean.” Jesus means it. And this man is right, Jesus can do whatever he wills because he is God. So, why aren’t we clean? Because, even though God wills it, we don’t. I’m not talking about leprosy, of course. We have that cure already. We know that God does not always heal diseases. Here, though, scripture is using leprosy as a metaphor for sin. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus did heal this man of a real biological disease....Read More

Homily for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Deaf To Justice

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                  September 5, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/GdV_jyLIg1o Judgement. Discrimination. These words are sort of taboo nowadays. A history of injustice and prejudice in our country and even the warnings of scripture give some reason for that. Jesus says not to judge. In our series on the letter of St. James we today are told by him to “show no partiality.” Yet, it can be confusing because to be a rational human being requires you to make judgments. Having a functioning society requires discrimination. Before he was healed, the deaf man...Read More

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

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 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Kingdom of Healing

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              July 11th, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/_mTau59tI44 Repentance, Exorcisms, and Healings; three characteristics of the Apostle’s ministry seen in this passage. To this day, they remain a core part of the Church’s mission. The Church exists to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, the Church is the kingdom of Christ already present in mystery. That’s what St. Paul is talking about in that really complicated second reading. There is a mystical reality that’s something deeper than bureaucracy, buildings, and bishops. The Church is Christ’s...Read More

Homily for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Reaching Out

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                    February 14, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXDYj2HY71Q “Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” In a sense, this verse is a summary of the entirety of salvation history. God’s pity, his mercy, moves him to stretch to the point of becoming human so he could touch us infected by sin and death and make us clean. It is, therefore, also the summary of what we should do in evangelization – stretch out, touch...Read More