The Celebration Continues: Homily for the Queenship of Mary 2024

Queenship of Mary                                                                                         August 22, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville N.B. This is a sequel to the homily for the Assumption of Mary. https://youtu.be/u4GFnnLurpM A week later and here we are again, celebrating something about Mary the Mother of God. Once again, it is worth asking: why? As with her Assumption into heaven, there are many reasons that all come back to one reason: to glorify Jesus Christ her son, God incarnate. And what is it that we celebrate this time? Mary’s queenship. It’s not an accident that it is exactly a week after...Read More

Why Celebrate? – Homily for the Assumption of Mary 2024

Assumption of Mary                                                                                       August 15, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/jwnk-iFshWs Why? Why celebrate the Assumption of Mary? For many reasons, but one above all: everything we celebrate about Mary gives even greater glory to Jesus Christ her son. Every Marian dogma, devotion, and practice is ultimately about Jesus Christ. Before explaining why, let’s answer what it is. The Assumption of Mary commemorates the day that Mary was brought into heaven, body & soul. Everyone else, when they die, leaves their body behind and only their soul goes to heaven. When Jesus rose from...Read More

A Clean Heart: Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent 2024

5th Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                      March 17, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/Rq7nymESj0w When I was a kid, my boy scout troop would take rock climbing trips. Now, we all knew that falling from a great height can kill you, which is why we were careful to use ropes, harnesses, and anchors to keep us safe. We were taught how to use it and we knew that the gear was perfectly safe. But when you’re 70 feet off the ground, barely clinging to a tiny handhold and your feet start to sleep… you suddenly know the power...Read More

A Trigger Warning: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent 2024

2nd Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                     February 25, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/vEuAWfzPkKY Image by CC 2.0 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/gcfairch/4189169360 A story. A true one, as far as I know. At a church elsewhere in Louisiana, there was a young pastor who once opened the door to find a gun pointed straight at him. Holding that gun was a nervous looking man who rather shakily said, “Father, I’m sorry but God told me I have to kill you.” Inspired, he quipped, “oh, God just told me to tell you that you don’t have to kill me anymore.” The...Read More

What’s Your Price? Homily for the 5th Sunday OT, 2024

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                     February 4, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/o5FeYgl6YWw What’s your price? What would it cost someone to convince you to proclaim the gospel to them? In the second reading, St. Paul says he offers the gospel free of charge. Of course, it’s his job: “an obligation has been imposed” on him to preach the gospel. Yet, even though he has the right to be paid for this job but he refuses to accept money from the people he’s preaching to. Why? Because he wants them to see it’s not about the paycheck,...Read More

The Flight of Joy: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent 2023

3rd Sunday of Advent, B                                                                                 December 17, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/hGXZtli3eJ8 Fly! Go on, start flying! It’s not like you don’t know how, there are about a million people in the air right now. So why aren’t you flying? Probably because it’s not as simple as just deciding “I’m flying now.” We can only fly in specific circumstances. It is the result of several forces beyond our control, it took us thousands of years to figure out how to do it. Flying is the fruit of a complex process. Despite being possible,...Read More

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

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 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Prophetic Patriotism

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                              July 4th, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/NGyzAF_kXfA “He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Just a few verses before, as we heard last weekend, Jesus raised someone from the dead! He cured a woman simply because she touched his clothes with faith. Coming from the joy of being able to reward such faith, Jesus is astounded at the contrast, the hard-heartedness of his own friends and family that blocks them from seeing similar miracles. As an aside, if you’re wondering about the brothers...Read More