Fr. Rene Pellessier's Homilies: Recent Episodes
Fr. Rene Pellessier's Homilies
Fr. Rene Pellessier is Parochial Vicar at Our Lady of Wisdom Church and Catholic Student Center on the campus of the University of Louisiana Lafayette. To learn more about the Catholic presence at UL Lafayette, visit www.ragincajuncatholics.org.
Growing People: A Reflection of Seven Years of Priesthood by Fr. Rene Pellessier's Homilies
Thinking, Knowing, and Loving: A Lesson From the Trinity by Fr. Rene Pellessier's Homilies
The first 30 seconds failed to record. They were basically a restatement of how we as Christians believe in the Resurrection.
Why Can't Priest Get Married? It's not why you think... by Fr. Rene Pellessier's Homilies
The Eucharist: The Food that Sustained My Six Years of Priesthood by Fr. Rene Pellessier's Homilies
On this Mother's Day we at the Sasebo Chapel also celebrated First Communion. This homily synthesizes my thoughts on the similarities between the love of motherhood and the love of Jesus.
The first part of the homily was cut off. I began by stating that I was a city boy from Lafayette and I grew up having no experience with live shepherding, but I did have some experience watching men raise cows. One of the greatest men in my life to do so was my cousin, whom we called Nonc Bacque. He would raise cattle on our family farm and his example showed me how to effectively raise cows, and showed me a a lot about being a shepherd. Shepherding is not often depicted as a dirty job. In fact, in my cathedral rectory back in Lafayette there is a beautiful stained glass window of Jesus as the good shepherd, and it it absolutely adorable....The link to the document released by the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines: https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/full-text-a-clarification-on-the-cbcp-position-on-freemasonry/
There were many heroes in human history who conquered many a land and foe, but not one of them conquered death itself.
Cardinal Pell stands as true hero in a dark world because he chose to always defer to Christ. His fidelity served as a light for me in a dark time.
My homily honoring the opening of the Cause for the Canonization of Fr. Joseph Verbis Lafleur.
My final Sunday Mass homily at Wisdom as their Parochial Vicar. I can't tell you how much fun I had, how much love I felt, and how grateful I am for the my family at Our Lady of Wisdom Church and Student Center. I love y'all so much! Thank you for everything.
I am convinced that the key to truly falling in love with the Blessed Sacrament is by adopting a child-like faith, and here is why.
In light of the current events concerning race, I wanted to preach on how our Catholic faith can heal these wounds. Especially in light of Pentecost, which unites people from "every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5).
What the Tiger King can teach us about Divine Mercy.
Correction: There are seven episodes to the Tiger King. Not seven seasons.
April 18, 2020
The Presentation of Our Lord is also a moment when Mary comforts all Christian parents.
There are many fascinating and almost unbelievable stories in the Bible. In this homily I seek to answer three objections to the historicity and honesty of the scriptures to illustrate that belief in Sacred Scripture is not unreasonable!
If you pursue a life of holiness, be prepared to be surprised.
2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A January 19, 2020
In this homily on Epiphany I seek to answer why the magi, a group of pagan priests, followed a star to find the King of the Jews.
And how it can help us when it comes to making big decisions.
Correction: In the homily I said St. Joseph divorced his wife. I should have said instead, St. Joseph resolved to quietly divorce is wife. One could make the argument that they are the same thing, but just to be clear, St. Joseph never formally divorced Mary.
This three part series is about the Discernment of Spirits according to the Rules of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This third part focuses on rules 11-14 as well as practical implementations of the rules in our daily lives.
If you would like to skip the review, start the track around 9:00
This three part series is about the Discernment of Spirits according to the Rules of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This second part focuses on rules 3-10.
If you would like to skip the review, start the track at 13:00
This three part series is about the Discernment of Spirits according to the Rules of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This first part focuses on the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola and defining ten principles that can help us discern. I also cover the first two rules of the Fourteen Rules of Discernment.
Corrections:
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The Amalekites are not Canaanites. Canaanites lived in the land of Cana, the modern day Holy Land. Amalekites were citizens under the king, Amalek, who attacked the Israelites when they were traveling to the Holy Land. Hence, the battle of Joshua was a defensive war to prevent the army of Amalek from plundering the Israelites. Please forgive me of this error.
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Pope Innocent III is not a canonized Saint.
In this homily I discuss Bishop Robert Barron's venture into the Reddit world.
Correction: in the Homily I stated that the destruction of the Temple by King Nebuchadnezzar was in the year 600 B.C. and that we were unsure of the date. I was mistaken, it was actually 586 B.C. and we are fairly certain of this date.
Welcome back to school! We are glad to have you here. Let me tell you about my first day of school in 2008 when I was a Mechanical Engineering Major at LSU.
In light of the recent shootings, I decided to preach on the crisis of masculinity of our culture, and how to produce a culture of healthy men. Johnny Cash, Merrill Haggard, several other popular artists, and a very personal experience with our Lord helped me with this homily.
What Msgr. Rholfs and the prisoners of Hagerstown Maryland taught me about the Pill and the possibility of chastity.
Natural Family Planning Awareness Week
I think many of us are familiar with this parable as being a parable of social justice. And while that is certainly true, the Church Fathers interpreted this passage differently. They saw the story of the Good Samaritan not simply as a call to be kind to our neighbor, but a call to be Christ to our neighbor. Because the Samaritan is Jesus.
This gospel passage answers three questions: What is our mission? How to accomplish it? What will be the outcome?
How to we deal with the insanity of the present world? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
"If I have desires that cannot be satisfied in this world, then I must be meant for another one."
C.S. Lewis June 2, 2019
Jordan Peterson is one of the great psychologists of today, and his psychology beautifully illustrates our need for the Holy Spirit.
I feel like we don't actually believe Jesus when he tells us that no one will take us from his hand.
5/12/2019
Even though the majority of us call this Sunday Palm Sunday, it is actually called Passion Sunday... why?
What Les Miserables can teach us about the Gospel.
7th Sunday of Ordinary Time: year C 2-24-2019
In response to the grisly law concerning abortion in New York, what are we called to do?
In the face of these new abortion bills, many of us are wondering if we are living in the end times. Are we? Yes and No.
How the three members of the Holy Family teach us to be better husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, and children. Homily for the Holy Family.
In honor of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, I want to address the growing body of crimes committed against human conception using "Donum Vitae", an instruction on the gift of life promulgated by John Paul II in 1987. This homily is in no way meant to offend or shame anyone. I preached it to explain a long-held teaching that is seldom, if ever addressed from the pulpit because we are facing an age where these issues are becoming both increasingly prevalent and normalized. If you do happen to feel judged, please know that God's mercy is larger than we can imagine, and that he really works through the sacrament of confession. God bless.
For this homily I wanted to answer three questions: Why Veterans Day? Why memorialize the Fallen Brave? How can we honor veterans?
Often when it comes to spiritual advice, we tend to tell people to trust in God. But how is that practically done? Here are four simple steps on how to surrender to the Lord.
Jesus tells us that there are two elements to attaining greatness: Suffering and Service.
29th Week of Ordinary Time Year B 10/21/2018
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is my Homecoming Mass Homily linking marriage and the University of Louisiana, and how both are built upon vows.
For many of us, our perfect utopia, also known as a paradise, is a world where love is free. But I would challenge that notion. I don't think that would be a Utopia at all. I think it would be a nightmare. A true utopia is a place where our actions actually have consequences and our vows actually mean something.
In the wake of all of these scandals, the key to peace lies in remembering the simple gifts God gave us: Food, water, shelter, clothing, etc. No one is more aware of these simple gifts than a child.
This is a hard question to answer this day and age, but the Church, the Scriptures, and nature give us a glimpse of the answer.
Week 24 in OT 9/16/2018
Jesus heals people in the gospels for two reasons: 1) to show us that he is the messiah, and 2) to allow us to see the world sacramentally.
After reading the Bishop's letter, I wanted to share a crucial moment in my journey toward the priesthood, which was centered around today's gospel, and how it applies to the scandals plaguing our Church.
Spoiler Alert I get very passionate during the homily, and almost said a very bad word! Fortunately it was during the 9pm Mass on a College Campus.
21st week of Ordinary Time - Year B - August 26 2018
How the true bread that comes down from heaven gives us hope no matter what.
20th Week OT Yr B August 19, 2018
Why do we have to eat the flesh of a man and drink his blood if we are to attain eternal life?
Because in my weakness, I am strong.
14th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year B July 8, 2018
Very often in life we fail to ask for the help of Jesus because we feel like there is nothing he can do for us. The antidote to this issue is in today's gospel.
In 1996 R. Kelly came out with the song "I believe I can fly." 2000 years ago, a man showed us how.
At the end of our lives, we will not regret the material things we failed to acquire, but the spiritual things we failed to accomplish.
In this homily Father Pellessier explores the anxieties of self-identification, and how to overcome them.
The apostles were not disappointed because their expectations were too large, but because they were too small.
It is absolutely impossible to do science without faith because reason requires the building blocks of trust and belief to function.
Today's world is wrought with psychological sadness, which many believe has been brought on by world communication, especially through social media. Fortunately, Jesus provides us an antidote for this sadness and confusion through his Resurrection.
If we want to ease the tension of being united to our bodies, then we need look no further than Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem.
Too often we try to fight out spiritual problems using a physical solution like the samaritan woman at the well, but Jesus shows us that it is not physical water we should seek, but spiritual.
3rd Sun of Lent - A
The third of a three part series on Discernment of Spirits that I preached in at St. Joseph Church in Rayne as a Lenten Mission.
The second of a three part series on Discernment of Spirits that I preached in at St. Joseph Church in Rayne as a Lenten Mission.
The first of a three part series on Discernment of Spirits preached at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Rayne as a lenten mission.
Why is so much of the Old Testament concerned with the Jewish sacrifice of animals, and how come we no longer do it anymore?
2nd Sunday of Lent - B 2/24/2018
A homily about how we tend to eternalize our problems, which is why we are all so stressed out.
When Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God was at hand, he was not making a pious statement, he was declaring war.
2nd Sunday of Lent - B 2/19/2018
Of all the questions I get as a priest the one that is most prevalent is "Why can't priests get married?"
1/28/2018 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Evangelizing our family and friends can be incredibly difficult. Fortunately today our gospel provides us with a game plan we can effectively utilize to spread the gospel message to those closest to us.
Unlike the super villain in Batman Begins, the mystery of the East is both embodied and fulfilled in the Magi who pay homage to Jesus.
The only way we can make sense of St. Paul's command for wives to be subordinate to their husbands, is to look at the Cross.
All too often we can get caught up in the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping and forget the real reason we celebrate the birth of Christ.
12/25/2017
Many of us look back on our childhood dreams with a great deal of nostalgia and sadness. We can often find ourselves disappointed in the fact that we did become astronauts, marines, or the President of the United States. The reality is that we dreamed big when we were kids, but, dare I say, we didn't dream big enough.
12/24/2017
If everything good is attributable to God and everything bad is attributable to us, then Mary is ultimately responsible for nothing. Because of that, she can be venerated as God's Masterpiece.
We are not called to live our lives with our eyes closed out of self-obsession. But rather with our eyes wide open out of amazement of God's love. And we can do that through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
While our good deeds might be the lighted lamp that shines here and now, prayer is the extra oil that the wise virgins carry.
One of the greatest traits of Catholics is our ability to celebrate. And the key to every good celebration is humility!
Love is more than just a feeling we have towards little puppies, tiny animals, and fluffy bunnies, it is a man getting down on one knee and marrying a woman, a soldier shedding his blood, and a married couple waking up in the middle of the night four times to change their baby's diaper.
The only way we can fulfill this scripture passage is to recognize that humanity does not belong to Caesar, but to God. And the fullest way to give humanity to back to God is by giving him his only begotten Son in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
In light of the recent shootings in both Las Vegas and Lafayette, I want to address two questions: 1) What kind of god would allow this to happen? and 2) Why, God?
If we want to walk along the road to glory, we must pass through the valley of humility.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Which is why one of the greatest mercies we can do is correct our brother when he is in mortal sin.
We make a mistake if we believe there is a mutual exclusivity between living and dying.
Weeds, Wheat, and the Missionaries of Charity 7/23/2017 by Fr. Rene Pellessier's Homilies
Who Shall Climb the Mountain of the Lord -- Homily on the Transfiguration 8/6/2017 by Fr. Rene Pellessier's Homilies