Sometimes, during a homily, the priest will say something that stops me in my tracks.
I’ll find myself thinking, Wait a minute… is he talking to me?
Not because he knows anything about what is going on in my life, but because somehow the words land exactly where they need to land.
After Mass, we visit with one another. We talk about our families, the weather, what we’re having for lunch, and whatever else happens to come up. But I wonder how often we ask each other, “So, what did you think about Father’s homily today?”
I used to have a friend I could talk to about those things. We would sometimes discuss the readings and the homily afterward. It was never about critiquing the priest. We were simply trying to understand what we had heard and what God might be saying to us through it.
His health is waning now, and he can’t get to Mass very often anymore.
So these days, I find myself pondering the homily alone.
Maybe that’s one reason I occasionally write about something I heard at Mass. About once a week or so, a particular thought will stay with me long after I’ve left the church. I write about it because I haven’t quite finished thinking about it.
Every now and then, a homily stays with you for years. I can still remember one I heard several years ago. The priest explained a particular passage of Scripture in a way that suddenly made sense to me. It was one of those moments when you think, How have I never seen that before?
Those moments are gifts.
And perhaps that’s what a good homily is meant to do. Not simply give us something to hear for fifteen minutes, but give us something to carry home.
Maybe we ought to talk about those things a little more.
Not to judge the homily.
Not to judge the priest.
Just to ask one another:
“What did you hear today?”
Because sometimes, what we hear at Mass isn’t finished when the homily ends.
Raymond Newman
Ex Scintilla Incendium
✨ From a spark, a fire 🔥
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