Tag: Ordinary Time

Homily for the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Advice from St. James

Posted on by Father Albert
22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                 August 29, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/VkGRk39UBKc?t=1173 Last week concluded our month long focus on the Eucharist and the sacraments in general. As encounters with God himself, these liturgical events are essential to our religion; crucial in getting us to heaven. Nonetheless, our religion is not summed up by just being in the Church building. Indeed, even the sacraments themselves point us outwards – Holy Orders, Marriage, and Confirmation are each there to equip Catholics for love and service to their neighbor. There’s a reason for this. When asked about...Read More

Homily for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time: Eucharistic Coherence

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21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                  August 22, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/YgEbIEjTHfM “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve.” For five weeks we’ve journeyed through John chapter 6. We’ve reflected on hunger and weakness and fasting. We’ve considered the limitations of this world and that we need to work at having faith to live from an eternal perspective. We’ve challenged the temptation of focusing too much on what we can get instead of what we can give. We’ve rejoiced at the promises of the Eucharist, especially...Read More

Homily for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Feeding Faith

Posted on by Father Albert
19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                  August 8, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/UuB4BmoG7OI Elijah the prophet is depressed, worn out, ready to give up and die. But then he gets up and walks 40 days and 40 nights. What changed? God gave him some hearth cakes – bread – to eat. This bread gave him that strength. But that bread is a mere foreshadowing of the Eucharist. If the symbol is powerful enough to keep him going 40 days, how much more powerful must the real thing be? “Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” That’s...Read More

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

Posted on by Father Albert
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 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Lord Is Our Shepherd

Posted on by Father Albert
16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              July 18th, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/VD8LvVmGWeM “Like sheep without a shepherd.” It’s too easy to make these readings about pointing fingers; To point at the pope’s latest controversy or at the failures of various bishops or at whatever pastor did whatever you think was a problem. Online I’m sure you’ll find homilies and articles and blog posts that do exactly that this weekend. What good will it do? If you hear a homily or read something that uses the first reading and takes...Read More

Homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Vending Jesus

Posted on by Father Albert
13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              June 27, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/6A679v2gTuE Jesus is not a vending machine. You can’t just go to Jesus, put in some faith, and then get what you want back. Yet, many people treat it like this. You can almost excuse them because it kinda seems to work in the gospels. Every time Jesus encounters someone with faith, he performs a miracle. When four friends bring a paralyzed man, he sees their faith and heals the man. He repeatedly tells people to have faith...Read More

Homily for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Expecting the Kingdom

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11th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              June 13, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/RjBofkd3nsE I first arrived in Jeanerette in February, about the time that those little yellow flowers take over just about every open space they can find. Each year since, I’ve looked forward to that time of year, especially since the yellow ones are then followed by white ones, then pink and blue and now we’re seeing the purple ones. As a community so rooted in farming, the spontaneity and variety of these flowers are an important reminder that...Read More

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

Posted on by Father Albert
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

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Repent

Posted on by Father Albert
3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                    January 24, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/7zvDDl1UdCo “Forty days more and” Jeanerette “shall be destroyed.” You think that might get people back to Mass and confession? It worked for Jonah in Nineveh, so why not here? Even Jesus started his ministry with a little bit of a dire note, “repent!” If Jesus and Jonah can call out for repentance and be successful, why can’t we? We can, though not quite in the same way. In our ongoing reflection on the topic of evangelization, we must deal honestly...Read More

Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time: What We Found

Posted on by Father Albert
2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   January 17, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/XHfLCDpUMP4 “He first found his own brother Simon and told him… Then he brought him to Jesus.” Can the same be said of us? As we dive deeper into the call to evangelization, this question is crucial for us. While Jesus does in some places speak of randomness – like with the parable of the sower – there is a structure and method to his mission of proclaiming the coming of the kingdom, and it starts with those already close at...Read More