Tag: Scripture

Freely Called To Happiness: Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter, A

Posted on by Father Albert
4th Sunday of Easter, A                                                                                               April 30, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/OZnsMHx4ppg “Do you know what I love about no longer being a Christian? I can do whatever I want!” I saw that in an online forum for ex-Christians to support each other after leaving. What I find interesting about that claim is what isn’t said directly. This appeal to freedom is built on a deeper belief that that kind of freedom is what will make you happy. You know what, that online commentor probably experienced Christianity as a religion of restrictions, shame, and...Read More

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: What is the Gospel?

Posted on by Father Albert
3rd Sunday OT, A                                                                                            January 22, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/Ff0rBm0UKoI Jesus went around “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom…” St. Paul tells us he was called preach the Gospel. Indeed, Jesus every one of us to proclaim the gospel. What does that mean? How do we do that? There’s two things consider: what the Gospel is and whether we let it actually enlighten our lives. First, what is the gospel? Where do we look to understand the gospel best? There’s this book I’ve just read from. There’s the four gospels of Matthew,...Read More

Homily for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time: The Word of God

Posted on by Father Albert
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                                   October 16, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/wfNXcYoe0ok “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Maybe that’s too abstract. Let’s try this, if Jesus were to appear right here, standing before you the same way I am, what would he find? Would you, for example, be able to tell him about what you’ve just heard in the readings? After all, those readings were from God’s word and as St. Paul tells Timothy in our second reading, “all Scripture is inspired...Read More

Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Faith Means

Posted on by Father Albert
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C                                                                  August 7, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/GqMMnfEEo0g When Jesus comes back, what does he expect to find? What do we want him to find? If we want to be the servants who are “blessed,” we must be ready to open immediately. What does it take to be ready in this way? What can keep us vigilant? Faith. And what is faith? According to our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, “faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of...Read More

Pastor Column: Divino Afflante Spiritu II

Posted on by Father Albert
[Note: This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article for the bulletin of June 26, 2022]      The week before last, we began a look at Pope Pius XII’s letter on studying scripture, titled Divino Afflante Spiritu, written in 1943. We had just noted that studying scripture well means keeping it in the context of the whole faith and understanding how it has been used in prayer and liturgy throughout history. The next guideline the pope offers is to carefully study what the Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church say about scripture. The “Church Fathers” are the...Read More

Pastor Column: Divino Afflante Spiritu I

Posted on by Father Albert
[Note: This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article for the bulletin of June 12, 2022]           Next in our tour of papal documents is Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, which translates to “Inspired by the Divine Spirit.” It is Pius XII’s teaching on the interpretation of Sacred Scripture, which he published on the feast of St. Jerome, September 30, 1943. At that point in time, there was a growing interest in applying archaeological and linguistic methods to the study of scripture. Pope Leo XIII had given permission to use newer critical methods of studying scripture...Read More

Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday: The Point of the Power

Posted on by Father Albert
Divine Mercy Sunday                                                                                                 April 24, 2022Fr. Alexander Albert                                                               St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/Z1VOiVY0vNk What’s the point? Of this passage I mean. If, as so many people say, that we can just confess our sins directly to God, why would Jesus bother to give his Apostles the authority to forgive sins? “Whoever’s sins you forgive are forgiven them, but don’t worry about it because they can just confess directly to me and so you’ll never use this power.” Is that what people think Jesus is doing here? Of course not! There...Read More

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Present to the Word

Posted on by Father Albert
3rd Sunday OT, C                                                                                           January 23, 2022Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/EOW_ul5yMjA Normally I preach for 10 minutes but in honor of Ezra reading from “daybreak until midday,” how does an hour sound? Not long enough? How about 3? No, but we should take God’s word seriously. The Gospel ends with Jesus saying “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Not “fulfilled in your presence.” Not “fulfilled at this time.” In. Your. Hearing. The Word of God is fulfilled not just in being proclaimed, but in being heard, received, made fruitful. The question...Read More

Pastor Column: St. Jerome and Scripture II

Posted on by Father Albert
From the bulletin of May 16, 2021      Pope Benedict XV points us to some pieces of advice that St. Jerome offers on knowing scripture. Not surprisingly the fist thing St. Jerome says is to “exercise your mind, feed it daily with Holy Scripture… to read Holy Scripture assiduously.” I’ve often heard that Catholics of a certain generation were told not to read the bible because they weren’t qualified to interpret it. Enemies of the Church sometimes say the Catholic Church explicitly forbid people from reading the bible on their own. Well, this was written in 1920 and comes from...Read More

Pastor Column: St. Jerome & Scripture I

Posted on by Father Albert
From the bulletin of May 9, 2021      Our next encyclical from Pope Benedict XV is title Spiritus Paraclitus, which is translated to “The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.”  “Paraclete” is a fancy word that means a combination of helper, advocate, consoler, and defender. While the title focuses on the Holy Spirit, the actual document actually focuses on St. Jerome, who is a doctor of the Church because of his efforts to translate and understand scripture. Indeed, the pope even calls him the “Greatest Doctor” because his work was so directly involved in making scripture accessible to the whole Church.     ...Read More