Tag: Sin

Victory: Homily for the Immaculate Conception 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
Immaculate Conception of Mary                                                                    December 9, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/G8KpyEPrY_A Victory! We are here today to celebrate victory! Not just that, but a flawless victory, undefeated. Small, unimportant, easy to overlook and yet conquering mighty enemies. What a reason to celebrate! I’m talking, of course, about the victory of Mary over the devil. Today we celebrate her Immaculate Conception. The most common mistake people make about this day is that they think we’re celebrating when Mary conceived Jesus. No. That’s the Annunciation on March 25th, exactly 9 months before Christmas. Today, we...Read More

Love Without Loopholes: Homily for the 31st Sunday OT 2024

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31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   November 3, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/9F7darsL3j0 Why? Why didn’t anyone dare “to ask him any more questions?” My guess is that it has something to do with the way he told the scribe he was not far from the kingdom of God. Usually when Jesus flexes that kind of power – like forgiving sins or flipping tables – usually the scribes and pharisees complain that he is overstepping his authority. But this time? No one even questions it. Something about the whole exchange must have just...Read More

Steps to Joy: Homily for the 30th Sunday OT 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   October 27, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/mgqV77TSPKI [Steps outlined at the bottom] “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.” Does that sound convincing? If we cannot convince ourselves, how can we convince those who do not know God? Preaching on this topic is always a little fraught with danger. For one thing, it rarely helps to try to guilt-trip people into being joyful. “Shame on your for not feeling joy! Start being joyful right now!” I say rarely, not never, because...Read More

How to Face the Devil: Homily for the 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024

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10th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                               June 9, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/7jJ_LRBpZNw There are two extremes that get the devil wrong. One is to deny he exists at all, to reduce him to a myth or literary symbol. The snake is a literary symbol, but it a symbol that represents the very real fallen angel named Satan. When we deny his existence, we leave ourselves defenseless. If a Catholic denies the existence of the devil, he risks the sin of heresy and being cut off from God’s grace. The...Read More

Being Love: Homily for Trinity Sunday 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
Trinity Sunday, B                                                                                                       May 26, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/LWnwLJEZS3w Three weeks ago, I focused on the teaching that God is love. But what is love? “Love is to will the good of the other.” If God is love, then this means that God’s very existence is to will the good of the other. We tend to think of existence or being as this kind of passive reality. If you ask me “what are you doing?” and I answer “existing,” you’d probably think “ah, so he’s doing nothing” and you’d...Read More

Hear, See, Touch: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
3rd Sunday of Easter, B                                                                                   April 14, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/CJpKIwhq6Js It’s a funny thing, being a priest. All the time, I don’t have to say or do anything for people respond differently to me. Double-takes, subtle changes in posture, eagerness to talk to me or to avoid me, hearing the same jokes over and over. Without me even thinking about correcting them, people will apologize for cursing in front of me. Sometimes I do ask but even when I don’t, people will volunteer why they don’t come to Mass. One I hear...Read More

Love That Never Fails: Homily for Easter Sunday

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Easter Sunday                                                                                                 March 31, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/8oluT1-c5gE Rejected, betrayed, slandered, murdered, and buried, what good is love to Jesus? That question doesn’t even occur to Mary Magdalen early on Sunday morning. She goes to the tomb, ready to anoint him, to fulfill the duties placed on her by law and personal affection. She does not have a plan for the stone across the tomb, yet she goes anyway. She is not willing to let foresight or prudence delay her love even a moment. Whatever she expected, she persevered and when she arrived...Read More

Do I Will It? Homily for the 6th Sunday OT, 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                     February 11, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/lOVg2MYP1SY “I do will it. Be made clean.” Jesus means it. And this man is right, Jesus can do whatever he wills because he is God. So, why aren’t we clean? Because, even though God wills it, we don’t. I’m not talking about leprosy, of course. We have that cure already. We know that God does not always heal diseases. Here, though, scripture is using leprosy as a metaphor for sin. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus did heal this man of a real biological disease....Read More

From Beyond Time: Homily for the Immaculate Conception of Mary

Posted on by Father Albert
The Immaculate Conception of Mary                                                             December 8, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/Rgpy1AmDGjU Seeing how we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Mary, some Christians accuse us of over-emphasizing her. Yes, there are people who get carried away and distort Marian devotion, but the Catholic Church’s teaching that Mary was immaculately conceived – conceived without Original Sin – is solid and dependable. Critics say the Immaculate Conception isn’t in the bible. But it is. The angel calls her “full of grace,” which comes from a unique Greek word. We lose something in translation: this is...Read More

Not To Count: Homily for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Posted on by Father Albert
26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  October 1, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/P9Y2vj_vdXk It’s not a ledger. We talk like it is, but judgment isn’t a ledger with good on one side, bad on the other, and whichever has the most decides your fate. If you don’t know better, it seems reasonable that your final fate is determined simply by whether or not you did more good than bad or more bad than good. That kind of idea why the first reading is addressed to people who accuse God of being unfair in how...Read More