An Impossible Inheritance: Homily for the 28th Sunday OT 2024

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                   October 13, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville https://youtu.be/KwXx1XgngWk “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” You know what? I think we know that answer already. Maybe the whole poverty thing wasn’t obvious to the Jews of Jesus’ day, but the saying “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit” has been around for 2000 years now. We know. Keep the commandments. Stop sinning. Live simply. Follow Jesus. Sure, the details can get messy, but the main point is clear. The problem isn’t that people don’t know the answer to...Read More

What is the Holy Spirit? Homily for Pentecost 2024

Pentecost, B                                                                                                                May 19, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/J6WTq0Qr46k What is the Holy Spirit to you? Really, I should say “who” is the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is a person! Yes, Jesus sometimes talks about the power of the Holy Spirit in a more abstract way, but we see the personal dimension in today/tomorrow’s gospel. Jesus says “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” Hear how personal that is? “He will guide you.” So, while Pentecost is about the fantastic...Read More

Homily for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Love That Does Not Retire

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                                              July 31, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/lOGd5Us241w What’s the plan? Get a decent job, make enough money to get a home, raise a family, save up, and retire? And then what? Relax, go on trips, enjoy nice things? Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? That’s kind of the standard American vision of a good life. But is it the Catholic one? Well, what does St. Paul say about it? “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at...Read More

Homily for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Love or Passion?

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                  September 19, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/PQeOTknERwA Love God and love your neighbor. It’s our mission statement and it is the greatest commandment. Love of neighbor in particular is the driving theme of St. James’ letter that we’ve been working through for a few weeks. Today, James addresses one of the great obstacles to actually doing this: why is it so hard to love our neighbor? To embrace poverty and sacrifice in order to be closer to God? In a word, your passions. What is a passion? Your passions are...Read More

Homily for the 3rd Week of Lent: Freedom

3rd Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                     March 7, 2021Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/zooLk_rNUqo Freedom. The next step in our journey is to understand the fundamental value of freedom. It might seem a strange thing to talk about when our readings include a list of “you shall not”s and we see Jesus literally using a whip to interrupt other people’s business, yet that really is the core of what’s happening here. Our first reading should have sounded pretty familiar to you; it’s the Ten Commandments. They are given to Moses on Mount Sinai...Read More