Inspired by this parable,
I thought I would say a few words today about the state of Catholic preaching.
You might not know it, but
preaching the gospel is the primary duty of
priests! Catholics have been disappointed with Catholic Church preaching
for so long, they are afraid to expect it any more. When Catholics do find a
priest who can preach, as many of you already know, they tend to follow him
from church to church seeking spiritual food to chew on! Others learn to live without it.
Some give up and join some Protestant denomination.
This problem, I believe,
can be traced back to the Reformation, over four hundred years ago. In that painful
divorce, it was almost like there was a property settlement where Catholics
took the altar and Protestants took the pulpit. That’s why most Protestant
churches, at least until very recently, tended to have little altar tables
and huge pulpits, while most Catholic churches tended to have little
pulpits and huge altars.
Catholics who leave us for
a Protestant pulpit sometimes don’t realize that when they do, they are also
going off and leaving the Eucharist. What we Catholics need to do, what we have
been working on over the last several years, is to have both: a powerful
celebration of the Liturgy of the Word followed by a powerful celebration of
the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We priests need to know how to effectively use both
pulpits and altars.
Preaching is being taken
more seriously than ever in our seminaries. I am no professional homiletics
professor, but I taught homiletics (preaching) at St. Meinrad Seminary for a few semesters. The downfall of most preaching courses, in my estimation, is that they focus
way too much on public speaking techniques and not enough on the faith of the
preacher. My belief is similar to William Faulkner’s who said, “If a story is
in you, it has to come out.” I always reminded my students that if
the love of God burned in their heart, they would find an effective way to
communicate it, if not, they would end up just giving another speech about God.
A homily is not a speech. The insight of a homily is meant to turn on a light
bulb, to help the listener make a connection with God. “Nemo dat
quod non habet.” As we say in Kentucky, "If you ain’t got it, you cain’t give
it."
Preachers, and lectors
too, must be the first to ‘humbly welcome the Word” and “be doers of the
Word" as the Letter of James puts it. Preaching, especially, is
an awesome responsibility and the well, from which it comes, must be constantly
fed! The preacher must know himself, know those to whom he preaches and know God - and
be able to talk about all three in a convincing way. Lectors don’t just
“read to people,” they “proclaim the good news” too.
Some seed fell of the
path, some on rocky ground, some among the thorns, but some fell on rich soil
and produced abundant fruit.
The Letter of James is
famous for its insistence that faith be lived, not just claimed and talked
about. “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” “What good is it to profess
faith without practicing it? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no
food for the day, and you say to them, “Good-bye and good luck! Keep warm and
well fed,” but do not meet their bodily needs, what good is that? So it is with
faith that does nothing in practice. It is thoroughly lifeless.”
My fellow Catholics, we
cannot be ignorant of scripture and at the same time do as God has asked of us.
As the Letter to the Romans puts it, “Every one who calls upon the name of the
Lord will be saved. But how can they call upon him in whom they have not
believed? And how can they believe unless they have heard of him? And how can
they hear unless there is someone to preach? Faith, then, comes through
hearing, and what is heard is the word of Christ.”
It would be wonderful if
every one of us took the opportunity to study scripture in a formal way.
Scripture classes are offered in almost every parish these days. The diocese
has many continuing education classes available on scripture, but one of the
simplest ways to study scripture is to take advantage of our Liturgy of the
Word each week. To get the most of the Liturgy of the Word each week, if the
seed is to fall on the rich soil of our hearts and produce abundant fruit in
our lives, three things must happen. (1) Lectors must read well. (2) Preachers
must preach well. (3) People must listen well. You have good lectors
here, some parishes are known for good preaching and I know from experience that
you are an attentive congregation, so I am not criticizing anybody, but just challenging all of us in general.
(1) One of the hardest
things to get across to lectors is that they are not just “reading to people,”
but they are “proclaiming the Word of God.” That means they
must, not just be able to read the words on the page, but to be the medium through
which people hear God speaking to the congregation. That means the lector must
be familiar enough with the text to convey its meaning. If the lector doesn’t
know what the words mean, how can he or she read it with meaning? Lectors are
not just readers. They proclaim the Word of God behind the words of the text.
The role of the lector, standing in the pulpit, should be taken as seriously as
the priest standing behind the altar. Incompetence, sloppiness or carelessness
in the pulpit or at the altar should never be acceptable in our churches. Good
liturgy strengthens the faith of the people. Bad liturgy weakens the faith of
the people.
(2) As a priest, my
primary role is to preach. I have a long way to go, but of all the things I do,
I take preaching most seriously. I typically work a minimum of 10-12
hours a week preparing these homilies. I print copies and publish them on my blog for those who cannot hear or those who would like to re-read them and to reflect more on them later. As you know, not all priests and deacons do that. When I was the Vocation Director, for instance, I remember reading an
evaluation one of our pastors wrote about one of our soon-to-be-ordained
seminarians. He criticized the seminarian for “working too much on his
homilies.” He went on to say that he “knew of no other priest, except for maybe
the Vocation Director, who spends that much time on writing homilies.” I was
that Vocation Director! That time the seminarian was right and the pastor was
wrong! Preaching is not just one of many things a priest does, it is the single
most important thing a priest does! That is why I plan to be buried clutching
a Lectionary!
(3) People must learn to
listen well. The word “liturgy” means “the work of the people.” In reality,
many Catholics still don’t get it. They come to liturgy and put the whole
burden of a meaningful liturgy on the backs of the priest, the musicians and the
liturgical ministers. Many Catholics sit with their arms folded, never singing
or answering the responses or even mouthing the creed, with an attitude of “OK,
now entertain me, impress me and inspire me, and if you fail, I’ll blame you
and leave here and tell the world that “I don’t get anything out of Mass
because of that boring priest and that lousy music.” The word, “liturgy” means
“the work of the people.” We preachers, presiders, lectors and musicians are
here to “help you pray,” not to “do your praying for you.” It is your job to
pray over the readings before you get here or at least sit up and pay close
attention when God’s word is proclaimed.
St. Paul says, “Humbly
welcome the word that has been planted in you.” Like the parable of the Sower
and the Seed, it is not enough just to have good seed to sow (that’s the Word
of God), not enough for the sowers to sow well (that’s the lector and the
preacher), but the ground on which the word is sown must be fertile and
receptive (that’s all of you)!
To "get something out
of this weekend experience," we all have to "put
something into it!"
