I feel like it's a fairly common for people, that when the priest processes into Mass, a few different things run through their heads. For example, "Long homily today," or "I hope he doesn't try singing," or "Praise God, I'm going to receive the Eucharist today!!!" (I'm half joking on that last one.) Of course we all have more positive thoughts as well, I hope, such as "We're getting an awesome homily today!"
Well, based on my above examples, and general experience, most of the time our thoughts at this point seem to revolve around two things, the homily and the length of the Mass, (or if you're a liturgical nut like me, whether we're going to have chanting).
To the latter thought, I will simply give the words of St. Josemaria Escriva, "'The Mass is long' you say, and I reply: "Because your love is short." I will note that I don't refer to the length of the homily or songs and chants here. Rome, herself, has said that there should be limits to those two. I am referring simply to whether the priest is fast or slower, for valid reasons, such as age and reverence.
The former thought is what I want to talk about to segway into my topic for this post - the homily. I need to preface my discussion in that I don't want to talk about what makes a good or bad homily. Seminarians go through homiletics classes and trials to learn this. Many a priest struggle with homilies. I don't envy them; it is impossible to please every person with a homily.
Rather, what I want to look at is something in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Paragraph 65 states:
The Homily is part of the Liturgy and is highly recommended, for it is necessary for the nurturing of
the Christian life. It should be an explanation of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture
or of another text from the Ordinary or the Proper of the Mass of the day and should take into
account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners.
We are all used to the priest preaching about the Readings at Mass, or the mystery being celebrated, or the particular needs of the listeners. What I feel we are not used to is the homilist preaching about another text from the Ordinary or the Proper of the Mass.
Therefore, I wish to take this opportunity to encourage priests to draw their homily from these texts as well. It should be evident that priests struggle with coming up with topics for homilies year after year, especially for the feasts like Christmas, where the Readings are the same. However, using texts from the proper or the Ordinary will give numerous sources to draw from as well.
However, a clear problem suddenly pops up. Many parishes do not use any of the proper, besides the Collect and the Prayers before and after Communion. However, it should be noted that every Mass has both an Introductory Antiphon and a Communion Antiphon, which are often texts from Scripture and would provide an apt topic for the homily. If these were to be chanted, they would serve a twofold purpose, to direct people towards the mystery being celebrated and to provide the priest with more material for the homily.
Additionally, there are all of the Ordinary texts of the Mass, which are fitting subjects for meditation.
Just remember, try always to encourage the priest on their homilies. Most of them work very hard to do their best. Try to overlook their human failings, but focus merely on their words. Remember, it is often the Holy Spirit speaking, not them. And lastly, if you feel the necessity to critique, do so in charity and make sure it is constructive. If you don't like the homily and have nothing constructive to say, just politely greet him after Mass. Most importantly though, I think, when you like the homily, or something he does in it, let him know! Priests are human and need encouragement like everyone else.
I now wish to share my plans for this blog. For the remainder of Ordinary Time, my posts will generally come on Sundays and will give some of my meditations and thoughts on the Ordinary of the Mass. Then during the Lent and Easter Season, I will give some meditations and thoughts on the Propers, excluding the Readings, for as I said, the homilist normally covers these.
On Wednesdays, I will also generally post giving my thoughts on various topics. These will generally be related to philosophy or the Liturgy. I may also post on various feast days, as I feel inclined.
I wish to elaborate again that I welcome comments and discussion, both in support of my thoughts and against, and feel free to publicly post as long as what you say is charitable. I will do my best to reply. I especially welcome this for the Wednesday posts. As the Sunday posts will be more reflective, discussion opportunities will be limited, but I welcome you to share your thoughts and meditations as well.
Lastly, please remember to share this blog with others (if you think it worthy). Remember, one of my goals is to use it when I need to show practical applications of my learning!
Mary Immaculate, Pray for us!
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