Priests Must Prepare for Homilies

I was setting my mind for Sunday, when I happen per chance to come across an article from the Catholic News Service. The News item was about the comments of Cardinal DiNardo of Galveston-Houston which says thus: "I think a priest is going to have to understand that even with all his activities during the week, which are important, he probably won't reach as many people as he does in his Sunday homily,...And therefore the preparation of his Sunday homily is an extremely important aspect of his ministry of interpreting God's word." Furthermore the prelate continued by saying that there is a need for the Priest to think about the Theology of the Scriptural Texts and to make a connection of it to the lives of the people. To read the full article visit CNS site

In my personal observation, many priests today seem to be very busy about running the business in the parish or in the institution where they are assigned , some even take on multiple tasks. Thus making them too tired to prepare for a good homily. But the good Cardinal said that Sunday Mass is the best time to prepare for good homilies because this is the chance to reach out many people. Understanding too, that for many ordinary Catholics, Sunday remains the only contact they have with the parish. A priest should not be burdened with too many tasks. If the priest is too burdened with temporal business this will result in their being burn-out of their work and thereby neglecting the most important aspect of their calling which is to serve at the Lord's Table and to preach the Word in season or out of season. If the priest is too busy, will there be time for reading and thinking out a good homily? Presiding at Mass needs preparation.

Now on the other hand I also observed the jokers, whose obsession is to crack jokes and cite anecdotes to entertain the faithful. True enough, the listeners were entertained. But the sad part is the listeners retained in their memories how good the jokes were but forget the seed of the Word of God. As a lay man I appreciate priests who are serious. Why crack jokes? I don't have to go to church to hear jokes there are plenty of them on television. I come to Church because I expect to hear well prepared sermons that could guide me, and catechize me too. One sign of negligence and lack of seriousness is manifested when the Priest at the start and at the end of the homily habitually forgets to make the sign of the cross but never miss the opportunity to crack jokes and entertain the listeners.

Let us pray for good priests who can feed us with the unadulterated milk of the Word of God.