Gads it's demoralizingly difficult to come up with a Christmas homily. There are so many factors involved. There are those that this will be your one shot per year to say something meaningful. What can be more meaningful than to suggest that this is a way of life rather than something to do at Christmas:
And who exactly for whom do you fashion your homily? For children? For adults? For practicing Catholics?
There's a tightrope to walk between so many competing considerations:
3 comments:
God bless you, Father,and thank you for all of the hard work that you put into writing this blog, along with all of your multitude of duties that need attention. It can't be easy!!!
...Why not give a homily on that very topic: the challenges of preparing a homily for the Christmas Masses. Explain it in the very way that you did in this blog article. You must tease out the message of the Gospel and Readings, and then present it to a mixed audience that includes children & scholars, Catholics & non-Catholic visitors, the faithful regulars & those whom we very much want to come more often, etc., trying to be "all things to all people" in order to save some--as St Paul reminds us. God bless you, Father.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%209:19-23
Fr. Tim O'Connor, who is pastor of Amherst St Joseph and administrator of South Amherst Nativity of BVM, has an especially demanding challenge this year: celebration of four Masses on Christmas Eve and three Masses on Christmas morning, alternating between the parishes, all by himself! Seven Masses total!
Prayers are needed for all priests, always, and in a special way, during these holy days. I offer thanksgiving for all of our priests!
We are far too hard on our priests. You have a gift of being able to be kind without dumbing down your point. I am sure the Holy Spirit will help soon.
Personally, I love the Christmas homilies that focus on this being a season of love, hope and joy. It is one of a few moments in the year where in our secular culture we focus on true love. As a culture we still try to be cheerful, joyful and loving. We try, in our imperfect ways to focus on family. We give to charity.
We all have friends and family who are hostile to the Church or in love with our secular culture. But at Christmas, you can see even they desire the divine even if they don't understand. I wait all year for those moments.
Wesley, who did all for true love. True love is a good theme.
Post a Comment