Tag: suffering

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

How Ought We To Pray? Homily for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                               July 23, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/XzE9cl6zTII “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought.” That’s comforting, but it does raise an important question: How “ought” we to pray? Last week we heard about the groaning of all creation and how we are awaiting “adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” We used this to reflect on how that groaning and hope allow us to “consider the sufferings of this present time as nothing.” Today’s section...Read More

Considered Suffering: Homily for the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                               July 16, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/fmqitH9yJVY “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing.” Isn’t that a bit callous? If you tell someone in serious pain that their pain is nothing, people would think you are insensitive, cold-hearted, mean. Rightly so, too. But that’s not what St. Paul is saying in our second reading. We need to pay attention to what he actually says. He doesn’t say “suck it up” or “your pain is nothing.” He says he “considers” the suffering is...Read More

For Glory: Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent, A

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5th Sunday Lent, A March 26, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/AKSYbw8Q1jQ “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” Yes. The answer to that question and others like it is yes. “Can’t God just stop people from suffering? Isn’t He all powerful? Couldn’t he heal all cancer, stop all violence, save all children?” Yes, he could do those things just as he could have simply prevented Lazarus from dying. Not only did Jesus not prevent Lazarus’ death, he didn’t even hurry....Read More

Light in the Darkness: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent

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2nd Sunday Lent, A                                                                                         March 5, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/tPmcRz_qgxs To shine with the radiance of God, we must endure the cross. This is why Jesus tells his apostles not to share this glorious vision until after he has risen from the dead. It is why St. Paul tells Timothy and us to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel,” because what makes the gospel “good news” is this awareness of suffering and the cross. History bears this out. God promises to make Abraham into a great nation. You know your...Read More

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent: Crowned with Joy

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3rd Sunday of Advent, A                                                                                 December 11, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/3ngXssLUSws “Crowned with everlasting joy.” That’s what Isaiah the prophet promises us. Truly, that is the theme of this day – the joy of the Lord. Yet, that joy is not only something that comes in heaven. It begins here. That’s why the Church does this in Advent and Lent – two penitential seasons. Just over halfway through each one, we break from the purple to use the rose vestments and brighten up the décor and music. Today...Read More

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter: Life Worth Living, Self Worth Giving

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4th Sunday of Easter, B                                                                                              April 25, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/knQwMihv42A When we talk about heaven, most of us imagine it to be a place of eternal happiness, whatever that looks like. Well, St. John in the second reading is talking about heaven. And do you know how he defines the joy in heaven? “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” That’s what will bring us everlasting happiness, to see Jesus Christ as he is and so to become like him. So, it should...Read More

Homily for Easter Sunday: The Flower of Perfection

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Part I is here Part II is here Easter Vigil                                         Part 3 of Triduum 2021                                  April 3, 2020Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/32bkjWIy5Zk On Thursday night we began an extended reflection on the idea of becoming perfect, not in the sense of never making mistakes but in the sense of being made complete according to God’s design. It starts with an encounter, an experience of the inexplicable love of God made man. That encounter remains available to you in prayer, in the Church, in confession, and in the Eucharist if you seek it...Read More

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Defeating Devils and Disease

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5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                    February 7, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/jXYvPZWQ3LM Life is hard. It can be cruel and quite bitter. Job taps into this melancholy when he asks, “is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?” and when he claims, “I shall not see happiness again.” Why is life hard? More importantly, what can we do about it? The story of Job is peculiar. Most of the Old Testament echoes the idea that the good are blessed by God and the evil punished by him. The Israelites are conquered when...Read More