Homilists & Homilies: Hate Them, Love Them
The recent letters to the Catholic News threw up some interesting opinions, comments and views concerning the state of homilies and how they are done/delivered/presented in the archdiocese. Whatever your own opinions or feelings may be about the content (or lack of it) and the homilist who is delivering the message, one important dimension that must not be avoided or denied is this need to take concrete steps to do something about one's faith-life in relation to the hearing and breaking of the Word during Mass.
There is too much 'need' for people to be 'entertain' at all levels of the Mass celebration such that even the homily must be 'people-friendly', i.e. short & sweet being the imperative mode bandied for a so-called 'nice' homily.
But after all is said and done, are our listeners any wiser? Whether the homily had been done well or not, are our lay faithful able to glean whatever they have encountered through the breaking of the Word to 'make the world a better place'? For those who claimed to have enjoyed a 'nice' homily, have they done anything concrete to put in positive and meaningful Christian values into each day of their lives and share these with other along the way? Have their lives change for the better, in an unfolding manner, day by day?
Feelings are fleeting. Those that see beyond the 'niceness' and commit their lives to the concrete unfolding of 'walking the walk' besides 'talking the talk' are those that know how to appreciate ANY homily.
There is too much 'need' for people to be 'entertain' at all levels of the Mass celebration such that even the homily must be 'people-friendly', i.e. short & sweet being the imperative mode bandied for a so-called 'nice' homily.
But after all is said and done, are our listeners any wiser? Whether the homily had been done well or not, are our lay faithful able to glean whatever they have encountered through the breaking of the Word to 'make the world a better place'? For those who claimed to have enjoyed a 'nice' homily, have they done anything concrete to put in positive and meaningful Christian values into each day of their lives and share these with other along the way? Have their lives change for the better, in an unfolding manner, day by day?
Feelings are fleeting. Those that see beyond the 'niceness' and commit their lives to the concrete unfolding of 'walking the walk' besides 'talking the talk' are those that know how to appreciate ANY homily.
0 comments:
Post a Comment