The homily

PEOPLE have been asking me about how the homily in the

Mass should be. I, of course, find it difficult to answer that

question, knowing that behind that question are often critical

observations people make, and that every priest has his own style, has

his own merits and limits which should be respected.

            But what I can say is that, first of all, the homily is an

integral part of the Mass, and as much as possible, should not be

omitted, especially on Sundays and holy days of obligation. It should

be given its due importance and understood properly by both the

priests and the faithful attending the Mass.

            Pope Francis said that the homily “is not a casual

discourse, nor a conference or a lesson, but a way of ‘taking up anew

that dialogue which has already been opened between the Lord and his

people.’” In other words, the homily is a continuing dialogue that

Christ initiates with the people, applying the perennials truths of

faith to the current circumstances of the people.

            The homily is not therefore some kind of class or lecture,

but rather Christ continuing his redemptive work on us, inspiring and

edifying us. Pope Francis said that priests should deliver good

homilies so that the “Good News” of the Gospel can take root in

people’s hearts and help them live holier lives.

            What is clear is that the priests in delivering the homily

should be very conscious that he is assuming the very person of Christ

as head of the Church. He has to project and channel Christ there, not

himself. He should be careful not to “steal the spotlight” from

Christ.

            And the priest should be most aware that he is speaking to

the people with the view of helping them to become more and more like

Christ, who is pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged

humanity. He is not there to entertain them, or to give them a class.

            While the priest, of course, can and should make full use

of whatever would help the people to listen to him during the homily,

the net effect should be that it is Christ whom the people listen, and

not just him. The priest should regularly examine himself if such is

the case when he delivers the homily.

            In this regard, it might be helpful to make use of some

words of St. John the Baptist who said, “He (Christ) must increase,

but I must decrease.” (Jn 3,30) Or some words of St. Paul who said,

“It is no longer who lives but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2,20)

            The priest should find a way of how he can put these words

into his life, into his over-all attitude toward things, and

especially when he is giving the homily. He should know well the art

of passing unnoticed so that only Christ would shine out.

            Indeed, he has to spend time meditating on how he can

assume the mind and the presence of Christ wherever he is and

especially when he is celebrating the Holy Mass and giving the homily.

He should try his best never to depart from this state of mind, since

he is already sacramentally conformed to Christ head of the Church

whether he is saying Mass, walking in the street, or doing sport, etc.

            Yes, he has to spend time studying the gospel thoroughly

so that he can truly incarnate it in himself and express it in ways

that can really present Christ who would like to continue his

redemptive dialogue with the people of our times.

            There should never be room for improvisation. And when for

some reason one is caught unprepared because of some emergency

situation, he should implore the Holy Spirit to guide him, and let the

tremendous wonder of the Spirit speaking through him take place.

The indispensability of the cross

THAT’S right. The cross, given our human condition, is

absolutely necessary in our life here on earth. We cannot even be

human, much less, Christian, without the cross.

            Without the cross, we think that we can be absolutely on

our own. Without the cross, the only possibility we have is to sin, to

go against God, to demean our dignity as a human person and a child of

God, meant to be in God’s image and likeness.

            Without the cross, our freedom would easily go haywire,

get unhinged and proceed to pursue false, albeit quite attractive

goals. Without the cross, pride, vanity and their cohorts would easily

dominate us. Humility and the privations and sufferings that it

occasions automatically become a disvalue and are thrown out of the

window.

            That’s the reason why Christ, who only has our own good in

his mind and heart, commanded us that if we want to follow him, we

should deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) We need the

cross more than we need air to breathe, food to eat.

            We have to understand then that the cross is not something

optional, though it has to be embraced as freely as possible. We

should avoid thinking that since the cross is necessary, we should

just force ourselves to accept it. That would be a wrong and dangerous

attitude to have.

            Thus, we have to spend time meditating on this

indispensability of the cross in our life so we can form the proper

attitude and the relevant skills. We cannot deny that our human

condition at the moment is quite averse even to the mere mention of

the cross. But this condition has to be overcome, with God’s grace, of

course, but also with our own effort.

            Just like anything else in life that we want to master, we

need some training here. Thus, instead of just waiting for the cross

to come, we should actively look for it. At the beginning, it is

understandable that we take on small crosses so we can be prepared for

the big ones. There has to be gradual assimilation of the importance

of the cross in our daily life until the cross becomes an organic part

of our life.

            I remember a saint who wrote on the first page of his

personal diary the following words: “In laetitia, nulla dies sine

cruce.” (In joy, there is no day without the cross.) I think it’s a

good motto to have and to guide us. We really should try our best to

look, find and love the cross everyday.

            The cross, of course, can come in many forms. There are

the physical ones, the internal and external ones, the emotional and

mental ones, the spiritual and moral ones. There also are the

ordinary, small ones and the extraordinary, corporal and special ones.

            We can start with the small crosses like eating less of

what we like, guarding our senses like our eyes and mouth. We can put

a tighter grip on our imagination and judgments, etc. Perhaps a

relevant mortification would be to limit our use of the internet and

the many gadgets that tend to distract us from our more important

duties.

            The more subtle forms of mortification are to develop the

ability to put order into all the things of our day, observing the

proper priorities, while at the same time, trying to be as productive

as possible by learning how to put together in some kind of synergy

the different tasks we have during the day.

            When we are faithful in bearing these little crosses, then

we can be more ready for the big ones, as when we are severely

misunderstood and mistreated, when we fall into some serious sickness,

when we suffer some crisis of one kind or another.

            That’s when we can be ready for the final one: when we

face our death and our transition to eternal life.

The key to fidelity

IT’S love, of course. But the real one, not the fake ones

that are proliferating around these days. It’s the love that comes

from God, is a participation of God’s love for all of us, irrespective

of who and how we are. It’s a love that goes all the way, without

counting the cost, and unafraid of all the sacrifices involved.

            It’s the love that will always make us young, new and

refreshed, in spite of the passing of years. It is self-renewing and

creative, and never runs out of initiatives to look and try new ways

of expressing that love in deeds. But it is also respectful of

tradition and faithful to commitments made in the past and meant to

last till death or forever.

            It’s the love that is not afraid of problems, challenges,

trials, failures, mistakes, difficulties, suffering, etc. It does not

surrender to them even if death overtakes it. It regards them as

opportunities and occasions to grow more in love, to grow more in

trust in God’s loving providence where everything works for the good

as long as we cooperate with him. It’s a love that will always fill us

with peace and joy whatever the situation.

            We have to understand that this kind of love can only be

had if we try our best to be with God, to identify ourselves with him

through Christ in the Holy Spirit. This kind of love can only be had

if we pray always, if we constantly look for Christ, find him, serve

him and imitate him, making him direct and shape our daily life.

            This kind of love can only be had if we have recourse to

the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist where we have Christ

offering himself as the bread of life. In that way, our love acquires

a supernatural power that goes infinitely beyond our natural powers.

With him, what we cannot do or solve are all taken care of.

            Yes, we have to do our part, and we, in fact, should give

our all. But we do it always with Christ. With him we would not be

afraid where our love and our life will take us. He takes care of

everything. What he simply expects from us is to trust him and to try

our best to cooperate with him. We therefore would always have hope.

And we would always find meaning in everything we experience in life.

            Let us see to it then that we are with Christ always. He

is real and alive, and not just a figment of our desire to believe. We

do not make him up in our mind. More than that, he is full of love for

us, full of solicitude toward us. He always has us in his mind and

heart. And he is actually actively intervening in our life at every

moment. There is no moment when he is indifferent to us. If we are

lost, he, like the Good Shepherd, will take the pains to look for us

and rescue us.

            We have to learn to discern his presence and his constant

interventions in our life. That is why, we need to develop certain

practices of piety so that we also can properly and actively

correspond to his constant interventions of love for us.

            Perhaps, we can make use of a certain plan of life that

would include, for example, some moments of mental prayer, so that

right from the start of the day, we can already feel the intimacy of

his presence and actions in our life. Then, having a recourse to the

sacraments, especially Confession, the Holy Mass and Communion, would

definitely be helpful.

            Let us have those practices that would help us live always

in his presence: regular spiritual reading, some devotions like the

Holy Rosary, the Angelus, etc.