Tag: Original Sin

Him Whom My Heart Loves: Homily for the Patronal Feast of St. Mary Magdalen 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
Patronal Feast of St. Mary Magdalen                                                                         July 20, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/szYXUkvax6U “Him whom my heart loves.” Who does your heart love? Last week, Jesus exhorted us to love God with our whole heart, mind, being, and strength. Now we hear this love poem from the bible. The Song of Songs is 8 chapters of lyrical verse about love. Traditionally ascribed to King Solomon, some Church Fathers read this poem as an allegory for the kind of love that should exist between God and the human soul with God as the groom and the...Read More

Why Be Catholic? Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
Divine Mercy Sunday                                                                                     April 27, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/Mm1TdLw5ZSY “Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them.” So our first reading depicts the beginning of the Catholic Church, people joining the Apostles in great numbers. Why do it? Why join the Catholic Church? Considering that around 15% of the entire U.S. population is ex-Catholic or that, in the U.S., about 8 people leave the Church for every 1 person that joins it, it’s an interesting question. Though that number sounds bad,...Read More

Homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent: What We Eat

Posted on by Father Albert
1st Sunday Lent, A                                                                                          February 26, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/d16N75iYsrY Why does eating a piece of fruit condemn all of humanity to death and destruction? Why does it matter so much what we eat? Well, if someone is hanging from a cliff by a rope, ask them why it would matter if you cut that rope. The poetic language of the creation story talks about fruit and trees, but it’s really conveying to us our place in the universe. Adam and Eve had no say in how gravity works, how the chemical...Read More

Homily for the Assumption of Mary, 2022: The Heights of Desire

Posted on by Father Albert
Assumption of the BVM                                                                                 August 15, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/QK2PRZQNZjU “The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God.” That cuts to the heart of what we’re celebrating in this solemn feast. Mary had a place prepared for her by God and, in order to show us what’s in store, God raised her up body and soul to go to that place. It makes sense that the very body which carried the son of God should be spared from corruption. Many traditions agree...Read More

Homily for Christmas: The Beginning

Posted on by Father Albert
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 1st Sunday of Lent: Good vs. Evil

Posted on by Father Albert
1st Sunday of Lent, B                                                                         February 21, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/X6n0iIVvAAI Good versus evil. This concept is part of nearly every story ever told and central to all the best ones. Some people may talk about these two forces as a necessary part of the balance of the universe, the yin and yang or, to borrow an idea from Star Wars, the dark and light sides of the force. But even then, no sane person actually wants evil to be equal to good. The Jedi talk about balance, but strive continually...Read More