tvc.dsj.org | February 20, 2018
IN THE CHURCH
9
Homilies Must Help People Reflect, Not Nap
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY – Catholic priests
must deliver good homilies so the
“good news” of the Gospel can take
root in people’s hearts and help them
live holier lives, Pope Francis said.
But the faithful in the pews need to
do their part, too, the pope said at his
weekly general audience February 7.
Catholics need to read the Bible
more regularly so they can better un-
derstand the Mass readings, and they
need to be patient with the homilist,
especially if the sermon is boring,
meandering or hard to understand,
he said.
“How many times do we see some
people asleep, chatting or going out to
smoke a cigarette during the homily,”
the pope asked those gathered for the
audience in the Paul VI audience hall.
A homily must be prepared well
with prayer and study, and be deliv-
ered clearly and briefly – “it must not
Bishop Patrick J. McGrath gives the homily
at the Catholic Schools Week Mass in 2017.
go longer than 10 minutes, please,”
the pope said.
Continuing his series of audience
talks on the Mass, Pope Francis spoke
about the proclamation of the Gospel
and the homily.
Whoever gives the homily must
recognize that it is not about himself,
but that he is “giving voice to Jesus,
he is preaching the word of Jesus,”
the pope said.
The homily is not a lecture, a lesson,
a catechesis or just small talk, he said;
it is the minister continuing a dialogue
the Lord has already established with
his people so that his word may be-
come part of their lives.
“The word of the Lord ends its jour-
ney becoming flesh in us, translating
itself into action, as happened in (the
lives of) Mary and the saints,” he said
Just as the preacher must try to offer
“a real service” to all those gathered
for Mass, the pope said, the people in
the pews must do their part, above
all by paying attention and listening
with a proper attitude – free from
“subjective pretenses” and prejudices,
“knowing that every preacher has
virtues and limitations.”
The word of the Lord – whether in
the Mass readings or the homily – is
meant to “enter into the ears, to get to
the heart and go to the hands by doing
good works,” the pope said.
To get his message across, “Christ
also needs the words of the priest who
gives the homily after the Gospel”
reading, he said.
A Gospel passage is read at Mass
not simply to tell people about events
in the past, the pope said. “We listen to
the Gospel in order to become aware of
what Jesus did and said once” in order
to reflect on how he is saying it again
to everyone today.
As Saint Augustine said, the pope
commented, “the mouth of Christ is
the Gospel” and though he may reign
in heaven, he never ceases to speak to
those on earth.
Christ must always be at the center
of everything during the Mass, the
pope said, but the people must also
respond to Christ in some way in
their lives.
“Therefore, if we listen to the ‘good
news,’ we will be converted and trans-
formed by this and consequently be
capable of changing ourselves and the
world,” he said.
More Guns, More Gun Deaths
By Father Gerald D. Coleman P.S.S.
Adjunct professor,
Graduate Department of Pastoral
Ministries, Santa Clara University
In a landmark and historic statement on nuclear
arms on November 10, 2017, Pope Francis categori-
cally condemned not only “the threat of their use,”
but also “their very possession.” He told participants
at a Vatican symposium on disarmament that “inter-
national relations cannot be held captive to military
force, mutual intimidation and the parading of
stockpiles of arms.”
Pope Benedict XVI also recognized the great risk
nuclear weapons posed to humanity and called for
an effective demilitarization. However, there is no
movement among those who possess nuclear arms to-
ward negotiating their elimination. On the contrary,
significant new investments are being made in their
modernization. The possession of nuclear weapons
has become a sign of power which creates a climate
of i nstability and conflict making a world without
nuclear arms increasingly remote.
The entire landscape is frightening and shameful.
On Ash Wednesday of this year, a horrible tragedy
occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen people were killed.
On the following day, an 11-year-old girl was arrested
for writing a threatening and vulgar letter saying she
was going to “shoot up” her Florida Middle School.
Granted that nuclear weapons and guns are on a
different level of ferocity and destructive potential,
it is time to stop dancing around the issue of gun
violence by misrepresenting what the real problem
is. Now is the appointed time for Congress to pass
stringent laws regarding the very possession of guns.
Mental health is not what makes America unique-
ly vulnerable to gun violence. Research has demon-
strated that people with mental illnesses are more
likely to be victims, not perpetrators, of gun violence.
The mentally ill should not bear the burden of being
regarded as the chief perpetrators of mass murder.
“Do something instead of sending prayers.
Prayers won’t fix this.
But gun control will prevent it
from happening again.”
The real problem is guns, specifically America’s
extraordinary stockpile of firearms. The U.S. has the
highest number of guns in the world. This is the core
problem, pure and simple.
Research compiled by the Harvard School of
Public Health’s Injury Control Research Center has
found that after controlling for variables such as
socioeconomic factors and other crimes, places with
more guns have more gun deaths. More guns in a
community lead to more homicides, suicides, domes-
tic violence, and violence against police (in the past 10
years, more than 90% of police deaths resulted from
assaults involving firearms). America has more lethal
violence than other developed countries, and this
fact is driven in large part by the prevalence of guns.
Guns are not the only contributor to violence
(other factors include poverty, urbanization, alcohol
consumption), but over and over again researchers
have found that America’s high levels of gun owner-
ship is a major reason why there is such a high level
of violence in the U.S.
We must demand universal background checks
for those wanting to purchase guns, make licensing
requirements more stringent, place outright bans on
certain types of firearms such as automatic and semi-
automatic rifles, shotguns and other types of assault
weapons, establish a registry for all guns owned in
the country, require a permit for all firearm pur-
chases, curtail gun trafficking, and wage campaigns
against all film producers who glorify violent action
and the dehumanization of persons.
America has become resistant to doing anything
about this issue because some feel “powerful” by
owning a gun, and the decades-long public campaign
by the National Rifle Association to convince the U.S.
public and politicians that bearing arms and having
more guns actually make people safer. This assertion
is contrary to everything research demonstrates.
Our country has become mired in a culture of
violence as a way of solving problems nationally
and internationally. Parading U.S. weaponry on the
streets of the nation’s capital only exasperates this
culture.
A Douglas High School student tweeted the day
after the Florida massacre, “Do something instead
of sending prayers. Prayers won’t fix this. But gun
control will prevent it from happening again.”
Amen!