Tag: Sacraments

Signs and Symbols: Homily for Ash Wednesday 2026

Posted on by Father Albert
Ash Wednesday                                                                              February 18, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/m_PgVRYiTNM A visible sign of an invisible reality. That’s what this is. That phrase should sound familiar – a visible sign of an invisible reality – because it is one of the ways we describe the Sacraments. All 7 of the capital-S Sacraments are visible – or audible – signs of an invisible reality. But that definition doesn’t just apply to those 7 rituals. Our faith is full of visible signs for invisible realities like we have today. The ashes are a visible sign of the...Read More

The Water of the Temple: Homily for the Anniversary of the Dedication of St. Mary Magdalen Church

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Anniversary of the Church's Dedication                January 31, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                        St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/UX7mVfx6Cmo It’s about the water, you know. For us, at least… for our earthly building, this glorious temple to God called St. Mary Magdalen Church, it is about the water flowing to the right side of the temple, the water that makes polluted water fresh, that gives life to plant and animal, the water that so enriches the trees it nourishes, their fruit in unfailing food and their leaves perfect medicine. What do I mean? I mean grace, of course. This building, this temple truly is...Read More

A Heavenly Hunger: Homily for the 4th Sunday OT 2026

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4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                             February 1, 2026Fr. Alexander Albert                                                           St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/DAKE9jarScg Are you unsatisfied? Is something missing, something not quite right? Do you often wake up or fall asleep with the nagging sense that there’s something you want but don’t yet have? Like maybe you’re hungry, but not quite sure if it’s real hunger or just boredom… that you don’t even know what you want to eat? And after the late-night snack or the early morning breakfast, does that vacancy, that subtle emptiness still tug at the edge of your mind? Good. If any...Read More

Where is God? Homily for Christmas 2025

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Christmas                                                                                         December 25, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/KaOd3emzO4s “Where is God?” Agnes Bojaxhiu once asked a variation of that question to a bishop during adoration. Agnes was born in 1910 to a devoutly Catholic family. Besides their daily prayers and weekly Mass attendance, the family also expressed their faith in and love of the invisible God with a weekly visit to the poor to bring food and clothes and company. Like any Catholic family and even many secular ones, Christmas was a time of joy and celebration and family and...Read More

Sacramental Vision: Homily for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul 2025

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Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul                                                               June 29, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                            St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/bSt9aI65OsU Is a flower just a plant? Just a briefly living thing that withers and dies? Is a building just a composite of materials in a useful shape? In one sense, yes. In a far more important sense, no. Nothing is “just” that thing. A flower picked by a man in love and given to his beloved is obviously something more, but good luck in trying to measure that. In every culture, buildings are always more than just the shape and stuff....Read More

To Follow the Holy Spirit: Homily for Pentecost 2025

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Pentecost Sunday, C              Adult Confirmation Mass                          June 8, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                          St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/-W_p5fkkP_M Jesus says the word “peace” 23 times in the gospels. A few times are as part of a lesson. A few times are when he uses it like a simple farewell, “go in peace.” A few are when he tells the apostles to wish peace to the houses they visit while going on mission. The only time he gives peace directly to the Apostles, however, is the last supper and here. At the last supper, he says “Peace I leave with you;...Read More

Whatever it Takes: Homily for Ash Wednesday 2025

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Ash Wednesday                                                                                              March 5, 2025Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/ArNnE4yuS8c “Do whatever it takes.” How often do we hear that? How many motivational speeches and posters exhort us to do whatever it takes? And for good reason. There’s a certain kind of blunt power to it, a directness and simplicity that has a way of lodging in the brain. Forget the excuses, the complicated whatnots… do whatever it takes. Whatever it takes to do… what, exactly? That’s the important question. If your goal is a noble one – holiness, helping others, overcoming...Read More

Being the Bad Guy for Love: Homily for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   September 10, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/LDdfIRPwomE There are many things I love about being a priest: Mass, confessions, baptisms, weddings, flying in a helicopter to bless the crops from above… the fun stuff that only a priest gets to do, things that help people, often in ways I get to see first-hand. It’s why there’s joy even in the sadder stuff like anointings of the sick and funerals. As with anything worth doing, these can get old and sometimes stress makes it harder to see the joy,...Read More

Homily for Ash Wednesday: Why are you Here?

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Ash Wednesday                                                                                              February 22, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/NmYF9BYwq58 Why are you here? Why take the time? It’s not a Holy Day of Obligation. It’s the middle of the week, so it’s not exactly convenient for people working today and probably an interruption for those on vacation. Now, I am glad you’re here, but the question is still important because how you answer that question determines whether or not this time is wasted. Is it to just to get ashes smeared on your forehead? I hope you realize that these ashes aren’t magical....Read More

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

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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