Tag: evangelization

What’s Your Price? Homily for the 5th Sunday OT, 2024

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5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B                                                                     February 4, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/o5FeYgl6YWw What’s your price? What would it cost someone to convince you to proclaim the gospel to them? In the second reading, St. Paul says he offers the gospel free of charge. Of course, it’s his job: “an obligation has been imposed” on him to preach the gospel. Yet, even though he has the right to be paid for this job but he refuses to accept money from the people he’s preaching to. Why? Because he wants them to see it’s not about the paycheck,...Read More

What Our Future Needs: Homily for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   October 29, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/2up2bZK2WGU When I started here, we averaged between 400 and 450 people at Mass each weekend. Covid dropped us to around 250. The current average is near 300. On average, we have about 30 funerals a year. We have about a dozen baptisms and 5 weddings a year, but both of those numbers include people who no longer live here, but came for historical reasons. To put it simply, we are shrinking. I say this so you understand why I often mention...Read More

To Repay What We Owe: Homily for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   October 22, 2023 Fr. AlexanderAlbert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/A1CWnEMUS7c “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” And what is that, exactly? What do we owe to God? Everything. The demands of our religion aren’t arbitrary. They are concrete expressions of the fact that we owe God everything. Authentic religion is the effort to make that repayment. Last week, I focused particularly on the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. Repaying to God what we owe to God means being willing to sacrifice time, money,...Read More

Not as Human Beings: Homily for the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  September 3, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/8fyh0bbujDU “Get behind me Satan.” It’s quite the change, really. Last week’s gospel shows Jesus naming Simon “Rock” – Peter in Greek – and proclaiming that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against the Church founded on that rock. Mere minutes later, Jesus uses a very different name for Simon Peter: Satan. Kind of looks like that promise of never being defeated didn’t last very long, doesn’t it? Appearances can be deceiving. In fact, that’s exactly the point Jesus makes:...Read More

The Key to Evangelizing: Homily for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

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21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   August 27, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/2g6YXhWwMqc Maybe you felt it… With all the talk about tension and jealousy and evangelization, maybe you felt this uncomfortable question in the back of your mind. I’ve been focusing on what it means to evangelize the world while also becoming less like the world. But perhaps you’ve found yourself wondering about more basic questions like: “What’s a practical way to evangelize?” “Why is God doing things this way?” and “Are we really sure we’re right and the world isn’t?” For a...Read More

Jealous for Salvation: Homily for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   August 20, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/A7z5KmsFjZs To be Catholic is to live in tension… to be in the world but not of the world. The more we live our faith, the more we should love the people around us. At the same time, the more we live this out, the more we are opposed to the falsehoods and sins of those same people. While growing in our love of others, we simultaneously grow in ways that put us in conflict with them. That tension can be difficult...Read More

Divine Surface Tension: Homily for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                   August 13, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/vpcNaFPY4Qo Conviction. It’s a powerful word, coming from “con” & “vincere” – “to conquer with.” Last week’s reflection on the Transfiguration emphasized that our faith is not just one opinion among many, but a conviction of the truth about what God has revealed. Even as we respect the freedom of others, we cannot confuse that respect for others with indifference. We are convicted that Christ is the king, our hearts and minds conquered with that truth. We ought to act like it...Read More

Beyond Opinion: Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration

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Feast of the Transfiguration, A                                                                       August 6, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/6kYxVwOeO_0 “The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.” I hope you know that we really do mean it. The Psalm doesn’t say “the Lord is our king” or “the Lord is king if you accept him.” It says the Lord is king… over all the earth. I think we might have an American “freedom filter” in our brains that doesn’t let us register what that really means. We’re taught from birth not to impose our beliefs on other people....Read More

Receiving Whom? Homily for the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                               July 2, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/bnhQLxlvbwQ “Whoever receives you receives me.” Just this past week, I was at the anniversary Mass of a couple celebrating 20 years of marriage. That’s not terribly unusual, the Church provides special prayers for such moments and there’s always a few couples in every parish who will take advantage of such an offer. What was unusual about this one, however, was that it was celebrated by 3 priests. As the main celebrant – not me – pointed out, the reason for...Read More

Salvation by way of Friendship: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter

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3rd Sunday of Easter, A                                                                                               April 23, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/oOmFW3IRkn8 Last week, we reflected on the role of love, especially in the form of offering and receiving forgiveness, in the establishment of a truly evangelistic Christian community. But there’s a problem with a generic call to “be a community.” How do you actually do it? My challenge to reflect on how much you actually value the faith and forgiveness of others in the community is a decent start. But, left at the level of vague reflection, it’s hard to go anywhere further....Read More