Tag: Holy Spirit

Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter: The Way of Peace

Posted on by Father Albert
Easter Sunday 6, C                                                                                                     May 22, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/FWmyMx8vzto “My peace I give to you.” Of the many gifts Jesus offers, this is probably one of the most requested. “Pray for me to find peace, Father.” And I do so gladly because, after all, Jesus does promise it right here. But what does that peace look like? How do we recognize it, increase it, cooperate with it? In short, the answer is the Holy Spirit. Notice what Jesus lists right before he mentions peace. “The...Read More

Homily for the 2nd Week of Ordinary Time: Our Wedding Gifts

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2nd Sunday OT, C                                                                                          January 16, 2022Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/TvwkkMiOCMg This is our wedding feast. To belong to the Church is to be invited to the wedding of God with humanity. Scripture constantly speaks of Israel as God’s bride. It’s the reason that Jesus’ first miracle is done at a wedding feast – it pointing to this deeper reality that God wants to unite all of us to himself in perfect love – marriage is a sign of that truth. Jesus is the bridegroom and the Church – to which we belong –...Read More

Homily for the Baptism of the Lord: You Are My Beloved Son

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Baptism of the Lord, C                                                                                   January 9, 2022Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/ARKHEABt4dI This past Wednesday, Pope Francis stirred up some controversy when he talked about families who get pets instead of having children. People were upset that he called it “selfish.” Maybe there was a better way to say what he said, but he’s right. It’s a statistical reality that less and less couples are having kids and more and more are getting pets. All the time, you’ll see people call themselves a “dog dad” or a “cat mom.” Don’t get me wrong. I love...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 Trinity Sunday: Faith Beyond Reason

Posted on by Father Albert
Trinity Sunday, B                                                                                                       May 30, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/ZMDF8JDjlcc It’s unreasonable, irrational even… isn’t it? At the very heart of the Christian faith is this illogical claim about who God is. The Trinity is One God and Three Divine Persons. It’s not like there’s three people who each have their own thoughts or make their own decisions. One God means one mind and one will. They don’t just agree with each other, they think the same thoughts and make the same decisions as one God. Yet, there are three...Read More

Pastor Column: Charisms

Posted on by Father Albert
From the bulletin of May 23, 2021      As this weekend is Pentecost, I thought we’d pause our journey through Papal documents to look at some teachings on the Holy Spirit. Should everything go according to plan for my homily (I’m writing this on the Monday before), I will preach about the charisms of the Holy Spirit. If you haven’t yet heard that homily, you may want to do that first. As I say in the homily, the charisms are not about your personal holiness - that’s what the seven gifts are for. These are about building up the Church...Read More

Homily for Pentecost Sunday: A Spirit Greater Than the Force

Posted on by Father Albert
Pentecost Sunday                                                                                                        May 23, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/aqRManLgTZ0 “May the force be with you.” You may have seen this quite a bit on the internet at the beginning of this month, a reference to the popular fictional world of Star Wars. The opportunity for making a pun on the 4th of May is just too good to pass up. Of course, Catholics often add their own flare by responding “and with your spirit.” It think it’s fun. What I don’t think is that force is a good analogy for...Read More

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter, B: Tending the Garden

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5th Sunday of Easter, B                                                                                              May 2, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/cuuQwlxIuaU I tried. Last year, as the pandemic hit, I tried to start gardening, dabbling mostly… Tomatoes, bell peppers, a few vegetables… It did not go well. Most of what I started is dead now, overrun with weeds. The reason why is pretty straightforward: I didn’t take care of it. I started to be a gardener, but I did not remain a gardener, defaulting instead to a passive observer after the first few tomatoes and a single pumpkin. Such fruitlessness isn’t...Read More

Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Advent: Why Wait?

Posted on by Father Albert
2nd Sunday of Advent, B                                                                               December 6, 2020Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/_xhplRF-n6E Why wait? It’s been a tough year, why wait to have the Christmas parties? Why not have the gifts now? It’s been a tough twenty centuries, why does God wait? Why has it taken more than 2000 years for Jesus to come again and just put an end to this mess of a world? Peter addresses that question in our second reading. His answer is simple: God waits so that we have time to repent. St. Peter tells us that...Read More