WORRIED about the complaints many people make about
priests’ homilies, the Vatican has issued a Homiletic Directory that
gives tips on how to give good homilies.
It cannot be denied that people nowadays, rightly or
wrongly, judge the quality and the attractiveness of the Mass by the
homilies priests give.
Of course, their judgment is not the ultimate criterion to
use to evaluate the effectiveness of the homilies and much less, of
the Mass itself. But their observations count a lot because the
homilies are meant to make a certain impact on their lives.
If their reception of the homilies is not good, if they
find them boring or too pedantic and abstract, or heavily peppered
with rhetorical gimmicks and pompous words, etc., then most likely the
desired effect of the homilies of fostering greater holiness and
closer intimacy with God and more love for others, would already be
aborted.
Homilies are meant to be an organic extension of God’s
continuing dialogue with men. The priests who give them should be most
aware that the words are not his, but Christ’s, and that they have to
be most faithful, if not, vitally identified with Christ.
You can just imagine with what preparation and
dispositions the priests should have to properly deliver them.
They—we, me included—should prepare the homilies with prayer and
appropriate study. We have to acquire and assume nothing less than the
very mind and sentiments of Christ.
That’s why only priests or, at least, deacons can give the
homilies, because they have been ordained to personify Christ as head
of the Church who preside over the Mass, even if it is the whole
assembly who offers the Mass. Only the clerics have the power to
preach the homilies, even if there are laypeople who are more gifted
in theological knowledge and rhetorical skills.
Like Christ, we, clerics, have to be mediators who link
both God and men, and therefore, should be intimately identified with
God and with men to be effective mediators.
The homilies then cannot be other than a message of
salvation, of mercy, which in the end is the very mission of Christ.
They somehow have to proclaim the whole nature and mission of Christ
all the way to the cross and his resurrection. They just cannot be too
focused on the cross without the resurrection, nor on the resurrection
without the cross.
In fact, the homilies should be an expression and
manifestation of Christ himself. When the assembly listens to the
homilies, they should have the sensation and conviction that they are
listening to Christ.
The homilies should somehow show God’s eager desire to
save man, and man’s necessity to be saved. The homilies should somehow
manage to portray the concrete human conditions of a given people at a
given time which are in need of divine redemption. Thus, homilies are
not meant to be generic messages of salvation. They ought to have a
specific focus even if the message of redemption remains the same.
To be sure, the effectiveness of the homilies is not only
a matter of techniques, though these are always necessary. It is more
a matter of the genuine sanctity of the homilists. Homilies should not
be reduced into some kind of theatric performance, or a class lecture.
Thus, more than just honing up our studies and rhetorical
skills, we, clerics, should really work on our spiritual life, on our
real identification with Christ. We should be filled with nothing less
than the spirit of Christ. We should be most generous and heroic in
our prayers and sacrifices.
Obviously, this process will always be a work in progress.
It will be a lifetime concern. We should not think that it is
undoable, because while it’s true that it’s really a daunting duty, it
is also true that God has already given us everything for us to be
what we ought to be and do while giving the homilies.
What is needed is trust, faith and hope in God’s word, his
grace, his mercy. And like a baby goaded by his mother to start to
learn to walk, we just have to make the first step, then the next, and
the next, till we can walk steadily and with elegance, never mind the
occasional missteps and setbacks.
If properly done, the homilies will always have the
qualities of Christ’s words—with wisdom and charity, with power and
humility. They will have a transforming effect on those who, with
faith in God also, would hear them.
They will be words that would bring us eternal salvation!
gives tips on how to give good homilies.
It cannot be denied that people nowadays, rightly or
wrongly, judge the quality and the attractiveness of the Mass by the
homilies priests give.
Of course, their judgment is not the ultimate criterion to
use to evaluate the effectiveness of the homilies and much less, of
the Mass itself. But their observations count a lot because the
homilies are meant to make a certain impact on their lives.
If their reception of the homilies is not good, if they
find them boring or too pedantic and abstract, or heavily peppered
with rhetorical gimmicks and pompous words, etc., then most likely the
desired effect of the homilies of fostering greater holiness and
closer intimacy with God and more love for others, would already be
aborted.
Homilies are meant to be an organic extension of God’s
continuing dialogue with men. The priests who give them should be most
aware that the words are not his, but Christ’s, and that they have to
be most faithful, if not, vitally identified with Christ.
You can just imagine with what preparation and
dispositions the priests should have to properly deliver them.
They—we, me included—should prepare the homilies with prayer and
appropriate study. We have to acquire and assume nothing less than the
very mind and sentiments of Christ.
That’s why only priests or, at least, deacons can give the
homilies, because they have been ordained to personify Christ as head
of the Church who preside over the Mass, even if it is the whole
assembly who offers the Mass. Only the clerics have the power to
preach the homilies, even if there are laypeople who are more gifted
in theological knowledge and rhetorical skills.
Like Christ, we, clerics, have to be mediators who link
both God and men, and therefore, should be intimately identified with
God and with men to be effective mediators.
The homilies then cannot be other than a message of
salvation, of mercy, which in the end is the very mission of Christ.
They somehow have to proclaim the whole nature and mission of Christ
all the way to the cross and his resurrection. They just cannot be too
focused on the cross without the resurrection, nor on the resurrection
without the cross.
In fact, the homilies should be an expression and
manifestation of Christ himself. When the assembly listens to the
homilies, they should have the sensation and conviction that they are
listening to Christ.
The homilies should somehow show God’s eager desire to
save man, and man’s necessity to be saved. The homilies should somehow
manage to portray the concrete human conditions of a given people at a
given time which are in need of divine redemption. Thus, homilies are
not meant to be generic messages of salvation. They ought to have a
specific focus even if the message of redemption remains the same.
To be sure, the effectiveness of the homilies is not only
a matter of techniques, though these are always necessary. It is more
a matter of the genuine sanctity of the homilists. Homilies should not
be reduced into some kind of theatric performance, or a class lecture.
Thus, more than just honing up our studies and rhetorical
skills, we, clerics, should really work on our spiritual life, on our
real identification with Christ. We should be filled with nothing less
than the spirit of Christ. We should be most generous and heroic in
our prayers and sacrifices.
Obviously, this process will always be a work in progress.
It will be a lifetime concern. We should not think that it is
undoable, because while it’s true that it’s really a daunting duty, it
is also true that God has already given us everything for us to be
what we ought to be and do while giving the homilies.
What is needed is trust, faith and hope in God’s word, his
grace, his mercy. And like a baby goaded by his mother to start to
learn to walk, we just have to make the first step, then the next, and
the next, till we can walk steadily and with elegance, never mind the
occasional missteps and setbacks.
If properly done, the homilies will always have the
qualities of Christ’s words—with wisdom and charity, with power and
humility. They will have a transforming effect on those who, with
faith in God also, would hear them.
They will be words that would bring us eternal salvation!
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