Tag: Persecution

Viva Cristo Rey: Homily for Christ The King Sunday 2025

Posted on by Father Albert
Christ the King, C                                                                   November 23, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                          St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/UcLneADiZKo Ninety-eight years ago today, the Mexican Jesuit priest José Ramón Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez was led before a firing squad in Mexico City. The Mexican government had severely restricted Catholicism at that time. So, Padre Miguel Pro continued to minister in secret. Eventually, he was caught. On the morning of November 23, 1927, Miguel Pro, holding a rosary in one hand and a crucifix in another, blessed the men about to shoot him and knelt to pray. He then stood and extended his hands like...Read More

Homily for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Imperfect Steps Toward Perfection

Posted on by Father Albert
7th Sunday OT, A                                                                                            February 19, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/ELSRlOhK-0k I’m not what I could be… I’m not who I could be. Has any honest person not thought this to themselves? We imperfect human beings have an innate awareness that there’s something more to life that what we currently experience: some greater pleasure, some better situation. Imagining ourselves as better looking, smarter, stronger, more skilled, more well-connected… anything. There’s an innate desire for perfection. At the same time, who hasn’t also felt like that better situation is not actually possible? “I’m not...Read More

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Blessedness and Joy

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4th Sunday OT, A                                                                                            January 29, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/05AboWUvaQk They are true, you know. These beatitudes, these promises of blessedness are not rhetorical… Jesus isn’t just trying to make a point. What he says is true. There is real blessedness, real joy to be found in each one of these examples. And no, it’s not just a future happiness that he’s talking about. The reasons he gives are in the future tense – will inherit, will be comforted – but the description of blessedness is right now – blessed are they....Read More

Homily for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Build Because It Crumbles

Posted on by Father Albert
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                                   November 13, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/OTgFf7YJ5jI Not long after I was assigned to this parish, I went on a short vacation that kept me away during a weekend, so I made arrangements for another priest to cover for me. While away, my phone rang at about 3pm on the Saturday. I looked to see that it was the priest who was scheduled to hear confessions and celebrate the 4pm Mass. My heart sank. I just knew he was calling to say he forgot...Read More

Homily for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Water and Fire

Posted on by Father Albert
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                                  August 14, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/fS5JI_Jm798 Water and fire. Hearing this Gospel, it might be tempting to focus on Jesus’ promise to divide families, but we’ll miss the point of this if we miss what he’s saying about fire and water. These two have certain things in common: both can be used to cleanse and purify and both can be used to kill and destroy. Often, it is by destroying that they purify. Dirt and grime dissolve in water – are kind of...Read More