This post was supposed to be about me doing my first sermon about a certain gospel passage last October 24, 2010 (Luke 18:9-14).
However, I've changed my mind since then and would just like to rant out about priests who are adept at not doing their homework, especially the homework of delivering a competent homily in mass.
I've had the luxury of listening to priests who have tickled us with their humor and enriched us with their insights. Special mention here goes to the Jesuits who have never failed to deliver homilies that were bursting with thoughts to ponder.
And, clearly, that's what a homily should be: an invitation to a deeper reflection on the meaning of the Gospels and the scriptures, in general. The Bible, no matter how long,is still limited in its scope. One can read the Gospels in less than a day and, after that, what happens next? What happens next is a re-visitation of the text, of culling from it a richer understanding of what it means, a process that can be described as an upward spiral leading to enlightenment. As an essential part of the Eucharist, the homily is a tool that stimulates or jumpstarts this intellectual activity.
But some priests are not doing their jobs, and I'm not just talking about those who deliver bland sermons to begin with. Some opt to deliver sermons filled with cliches and worn-out phrases, as if we parishioners didn't know any better. Some opt to be bombastic, eliciting every now and then a response from the audience in an attempt to cover up the lack of depth and material in their homilies.
This is sad. It is sad because, in this age where new information is quite cheap, and knowledge too, our priests can certainly do better. They can be more impressive than their predecessors. They can be more soul-inspiring than the priests of yesteryears.
Clearly, these priests should be shaken out of mediocrity, lest the heavens cast a dark glance on their wimpy souls.
However, I've changed my mind since then and would just like to rant out about priests who are adept at not doing their homework, especially the homework of delivering a competent homily in mass.
I've had the luxury of listening to priests who have tickled us with their humor and enriched us with their insights. Special mention here goes to the Jesuits who have never failed to deliver homilies that were bursting with thoughts to ponder.
And, clearly, that's what a homily should be: an invitation to a deeper reflection on the meaning of the Gospels and the scriptures, in general. The Bible, no matter how long,is still limited in its scope. One can read the Gospels in less than a day and, after that, what happens next? What happens next is a re-visitation of the text, of culling from it a richer understanding of what it means, a process that can be described as an upward spiral leading to enlightenment. As an essential part of the Eucharist, the homily is a tool that stimulates or jumpstarts this intellectual activity.
But some priests are not doing their jobs, and I'm not just talking about those who deliver bland sermons to begin with. Some opt to deliver sermons filled with cliches and worn-out phrases, as if we parishioners didn't know any better. Some opt to be bombastic, eliciting every now and then a response from the audience in an attempt to cover up the lack of depth and material in their homilies.
This is sad. It is sad because, in this age where new information is quite cheap, and knowledge too, our priests can certainly do better. They can be more impressive than their predecessors. They can be more soul-inspiring than the priests of yesteryears.
Clearly, these priests should be shaken out of mediocrity, lest the heavens cast a dark glance on their wimpy souls.
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