Category: Homilies

I post the text and audio of my Sunday homilies here for anyone who wants to go back to something they liked or catch something they missed. I sometimes include links to resources that I mention, so that you aren’t left guessing how to follow up on anything I may have challenged you to do.

I put up every weekend homily and the homilies for special feast days like Christmas or the Assumption.

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A Heart That Can Be Astonished: Homily for the 4th Sunday OT 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                     January 28, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/aJ_e1CLKBsM “The people were astonished at his teaching.” I’ll admit it, there’s a part of me that wants people to say this about my preaching, that wants people to look up to me because of it. But I know that’s my vanity talking and I’ve learned – often at the expense of people I love – just how harmful it can my vanity can be. So, what do I do? Preach badly on purpose so I never get complements that might make me vain? Then...Read More

Return on Your Investment: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                     January 21, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/rbdFnV_JPTI If there was a bank that could give you a return of 50% or more on your retirement, would you put your money there? Given that the average is probably closer to 5%, that sounds impossibly good. So you’d be right to ask “what’s the catch?” The catch is that, every year, there’s a 50% chance this bank – and all the money in it – simply disappears. The logical question here is: what good is a retirement plan if the money disappears before...Read More

Your Body Matters to God: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                    January 14, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/YiG7kmwbD-I “Why would the all-powerful God be so worried about what people do in their bedroom?” Critics of the Church’s teaching on sexuality love to ask that kind of question. They want to imply or even explicitly say that the Church is too obsessed with sex and that, to God, it’s not really a big deal. “Do what you want! Your sex life isn’t important enough for him to notice!” We have an answer, though. It’s meant as a rhetorical question or a lazy criticism,...Read More

Myrrh to Give: Homily for the Epiphany, 2024

Posted on by Father Albert
Solemnity of the Epiphany                                                                             January 7, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/tNpg2iiciWY The bells in a church are symbols of the angels. Because church bells are rung to call people to prayer, they carry the message of God to the world just as angels do. I don’t think I knew that when I was in college at UL, but when I would hear the bells of Our Lady of Wisdom ringing across campus, something in me did know. Those bells carried to me the message of God. They proclaimed to me that Christ is...Read More

A Family of Faith: Homily for the feast of the Holy Family 2023

Posted on by Father Albert
Feast of the Holy Family, B                                                                           December 31, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert [No recording available] Abraham “reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.” A symbol of what? God promised Abraham a lot of descendants. He finally had Isaac when he was 100 years old and God said his descendants would come from Isaac. So, when God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac before Isaac even had the chance to have his own children, Abraham correctly guessed that God must be able to raise people from the dead. As...Read More

The Divine Secret: Homily for Christmas Day 2023

Posted on by Father Albert
Christmas Day 2023                                                                                       December 25, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/GgJN75Zi854 “Can I tell you a secret?...” Do you remember the first time you heard those words? Perhaps on a playground or in your friend’s room. That moment when you realized that the connection between that person and you had reached some new level of importance. This person, this unique individual with their own hidden world of thoughts and feelings is about to confide in me, to give me a peek into the world that other people don’t get. I must be special to...Read More

A Chosen Family: Homily for the Christmas Vigil Mass 2023

Posted on by Father Albert
Christmas Vigil Mass                                                                                     December 24, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/mv-a2ZjONgs Arthur J Albert became the father of Julius. Julius became the father of Jules Sr. Jules Sr. became the father Jules Jr., whose mother was Bertha. Jules Jr. became the father of Kenneth, whose mother was Nancy. Kenneth became the father of Alexander. Alexander became a priest and stands before you now. But what does that list of names tell you? Probably not much and not nearly as much as the Gospel’s list. Yet, in both, there are important details if you...Read More

Your Will Be Done: Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent 2023

Posted on by Father Albert
4th Sunday of Advent, B                                                                                 December 24, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/8yjMcR6JPEo Some of the most useful and most underrated words in all of Scripture are the ones the prophet Nathan says to King David in our first reading: “Go, do whatever you have in mind, for the LORD is with you.” These words can pull you back to the center from one of two dangerous extremes: excessive self-reliance and crippling uncertainty. By far the most common one is excessive self-reliance. Even being too worried about what other people think is relying on...Read More

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

Posted on by Father Albert
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

How It Burns: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, B

Posted on by Father Albert
2nd Sunday of Advent, B                                                                                December 10, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/4QCixpBM44I If you were running from a fire about to burn your house down, would you stop to make the bed first? It kind of sounds like St. Peter is saying we should in the 2nd reading. Listen again: “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire… Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought...Read More