Not as Human Beings: Homily for the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  September 3, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/8fyh0bbujDU “Get behind me Satan.” It’s quite the change, really. Last week’s gospel shows Jesus naming Simon “Rock” – Peter in Greek – and proclaiming that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against the Church founded on that rock. Mere minutes later, Jesus uses a very different name for Simon Peter: Satan. Kind of looks like that promise of never being defeated didn’t last very long, doesn’t it? Appearances can be deceiving. In fact, that’s exactly the point Jesus makes:...Read More

The Key to Evangelizing: Homily for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   August 27, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/2g6YXhWwMqc Maybe you felt it… With all the talk about tension and jealousy and evangelization, maybe you felt this uncomfortable question in the back of your mind. I’ve been focusing on what it means to evangelize the world while also becoming less like the world. But perhaps you’ve found yourself wondering about more basic questions like: “What’s a practical way to evangelize?” “Why is God doing things this way?” and “Are we really sure we’re right and the world isn’t?” For a...Read More

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter/1st Communion: Feed My Lambs

Easter Sunday 3, C                                                                                                     May 1, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/lmOcV7lnrxU One Hundred Million. That’s how many angels John describes here. The second reading is from Revelation, where John is having a vision of heaven. Our translation says they were “countless,” but the literal Greek is “ten thousand ten thousands and thousands of thousands.” That’s at least 100 million. Of course, it’s kind of like when kids say “a million million.” What matters isn’t the literal number, but that it’s really big, countless even. What are all...Read More

Homily for Easter: The Authority to Love, Triduum Pt. 3

Easter Vigil                                         Part 3 of Triduum 2022                                  April 16, 2022Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette [See part 1 here] [See part 2 here] https://youtu.be/laRr7ujxiyk Thursday night, we began the most sacred time of the year – the Paschal Triduum – and began also an extended reflection on the meaning of freedom and authority revealed in the life and death of Jesus Christ. Through the washing of the disciples feet and the institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood, we saw that authority is truly a service to the people over whom it is wielded....Read More