Looking over Pope
Francis’ pontificate so far, I think his greatest contribution may be his
telling us how to spread the Gospel. He uses simple words and vibrant images.
He stands as an example of how priests should give homilies and how all of us
can evangelize, that is, spread the Gospel.
He follows the rules
of good homilies and speechmaking, some listed below.
1. Keep it short. We know the mind can absorb only
what the seat can endure. Brevity reminds me of a priest from the diocese of
Albany, NY, Father Michael Hogan, who died recently. Here is one of his best
homilies, in its entirety. “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your
hearts. And if today you don’t hear God’s voice, you’d better ask yourself, why
not.” As with any proper homily, it was based on Scripture’s popular
Responsorial Psalm 95. It also was short enough to be memorable and has the
power to come to mind whenever one hears the line from the Psalms. It makes one
think.
2. Be relevant. In their 2012 document on preaching,
the U.S. bishops noted that relevance could be achieved by making reference to
contemporary culture. This includes television, radio and music. It may be
fashionable to say you never watch TV because there’s nothing on, but the fact
is that tens of millions of people do watch it daily. Those who seek to relate
to them need to watch TV too. A popular series now is the “Big Bang Theory”
whose star is a comical, self-absorbed narcissist, an example of someone we
shouldn’t be. He also is part of a nerdy community of young people, who
struggle with him and themselves. It’s what we all face in the Christian
community. I had a pastor who often referred to the comic strip “Calvin and
Hobbs.” When the pastor entered the sanctuary, we’d wonder if we’d seen the
strip to which he’d refer. It also meant that when we read the comics during
the week we sought religious meaning because the pastor had alerted us to
finding religious meaning in unlikely places.
3. Bring the Scriptures to life. I can recall two
daily Mass homilies that stuck with me because of their simple expressions of a
Bible story. One was about the loaves and fishes. Said the priest: Jesus could
have made it come out right, without the leftovers so the meaning lies in the
overabundance–a message that there will always be more than enough of God’s
love for us. The other homily included an account of a priest losing his cat in
the woods. He was at a country house where the cat was spooked by a visiting
dog. The priest captured us with his tale of trying to lure back the cat. He
finally brought an electric can opener to the porch and opened a container of
cat food. The cat returned and we felt relieved. More important, however, the
account explained the meaning of the story of the woman who lost a coin so precious
to her that she swept the house clean in search of it. Others might not have
cared, but that coin, perhaps just a trinket, meant so much to her that she
went to extremes, a message that we need to bring the same energy to finding
the gifts, or coins, Jesus has given us in our lives.
The Holy See has
released a directory on preaching. The U.S. bishops are thinking of reproducing
it English. It will be a good follow-up to the bishops’ own document on
preaching approved in 2012.
How important are
homilies? Research on parishes by the Georgetown University-based Center for
Applied Research in the Apostolate has found that more than six out of ten
people (63 percent) consider the quality of the preaching when they choose
where to attend Mass. It’s more important to them than the quality of the
parish music and only slightly less important than the sense of community and
welcome they feel when they go to the church.
We can study Vatican
directories and U.S. bishops’ papers on homiletics, but the CliffsNotes on good
preaching and evangelization may also be accessible to us as we observe and
listen to Pope Francis. Every day he shows us how to spread God’s Word.
