Tag: Heaven

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

Posted on by Father Albert
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

Anticipating Heaven: Homily for Word of God Sunday 2025

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3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                                                                     January 26, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://www.youtube.com/live/pWdm09q5vAU?si=S73Anm0_AzMRJbKA&t=1295 What’s the longest you’ve ever waited for something? A new book in a series? A concert? A line for a roller coaster? The first McDonalds in Russia had an 8 hour wait to get a burger on opening day. The Beatles had lines half a mile long and I’m sure Taylor Swift concerts usually come with long wait times. Each time World Youth Day rolls around, people often hike for miles to camp overnight in a field to be...Read More

That’s My King: Homily for Jesus, King of the Universe 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
Christ the King, B                                                                               November 24, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/SRX1lB3_mfE What makes a king? Riches? Bloodline? Popularity? The power to make other people do things? Maybe. Depends on what you mean by a king. The world plays fast and loose with words and their meanings, changing them to suit whatever goal happens to be convenient at the time. This is why Jesus can be elusive sometimes, answering questions with questions. He knows better than anyone that when two people say the same thing, they do not always mean the same thing....Read More

Surviving the End of the World: Homily for the 33rd Sunday OT 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   November 17, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/eg_n8cldRbY Repent! The end is near! No, really it’s true. I mean, it’s been true since Jesus ascended into heaven, but you really do need to repent nonetheless. Jesus could come back at any moment. Our own deaths could happen at any moment. So, we should be ready now. And if we are not, then we need to start getting ready now. We are two weeks away from Advent, which is the beginning of our liturgical year. So, on the Church’s...Read More

Love Without Loopholes: Homily for the 31st Sunday OT 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   November 3, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/9F7darsL3j0 Why? Why didn’t anyone dare “to ask him any more questions?” My guess is that it has something to do with the way he told the scribe he was not far from the kingdom of God. Usually when Jesus flexes that kind of power – like forgiving sins or flipping tables – usually the scribes and pharisees complain that he is overstepping his authority. But this time? No one even questions it. Something about the whole exchange must have just...Read More

Who’s Coming With Me? Homily for All Saints Day 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
All Saints Day                                                                                                 November 1, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/wfpSmYsgF8c Epic. Or maybe you’d say “sigma.” Most people see the saints as amazing, “up there,” as heroes and legends and special people who do what we never could. And you know what? Some of them really are. Padre Pio could bilocate, read souls, and had the wounds of Christ in his body for 50 years. Joan of Arc led the French armies to victory in battle and bravely faced being burned alive by corrupt men. Francis of Assisi lived radical poverty...Read More

The Face of God: Mass for VC Homecoming 2024

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Friday Week 29 OT                            VC Homecoming                               October 25, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTOyvFG7egg “Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.” Is it, though? We all just said that 4 times in a row, but do we really mean it? Do we really understand what it means to “long” to see His face? This isn’t some idle wish, some passive desire. And seeing the face of God isn’t as easy as facetiming a friend. There’s a depth, a labor, a concerted effort here that most people fail to appreciate. Let me...Read More

Dying To Live: Homily for the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  November 12, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/-jvAMZk0wIg To get right to the point: we are all going to die. Some people want to avoid this reality, even avoiding the word “funeral” and instead talking about a “celebration of life.” Of course we celebrate life! But we do so precisely because we know we’re going to die and that only by dying do we receive real life, eternal life with God. So it’s important to realize that death comes for us all. If we don’t want that reality to...Read More

What Is Chosen: Homily for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   October 15, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/dFZ1EfAg8as Beating the messengers again! Just last week Jesus told us about people who killed the messengers rather than pay their rent. I offered the hypothetical explanation that the tenants of the vineyard had no fruit to give, so they responded to their shame and fear by killing whoever threatened to expose it. Indeed, we often respond to God in the same way – lashing out whenever he dares to touch on our sins, wounds, and weaknesses. Afraid of how demanding God...Read More

Not To Count: Homily for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Posted on by Father Albert
26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  October 1, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/P9Y2vj_vdXk It’s not a ledger. We talk like it is, but judgment isn’t a ledger with good on one side, bad on the other, and whichever has the most decides your fate. If you don’t know better, it seems reasonable that your final fate is determined simply by whether or not you did more good than bad or more bad than good. That kind of idea why the first reading is addressed to people who accuse God of being unfair in how...Read More