“WE need to realize that God is much closer than we think and to recognize when we have arrived in the presence of God. When you arrive in God’s presence you often experience a kind of serenity and pleasurable sensations. These are called the “consolations of God.” God uses those consolations to lure us, to bribe us into wanting to be with Him. They are like sweets we use to reward children. As our relationship with God matures, we often no longer experience these sweets when we pray. We arrive and yet the journey continues, as we grow ever more in our God awareness. This God awareness is shown by our God likeness, and how we are increasingly becoming what we love.” – Bishop Desmond Tutu, “God Has a Dream, “ 2004.
I was requested to describe what I consider a good homily from a layman’s point of view. To me, the homily is like a song, it sings to your soul that when you get home, you can’t help but share the lyrics of the song, hum it a bit, and then, after mastery of the lyrics, you sing it to another person. That is the effect of a good homily, it has a multiplier effect of GRACE, and it multiplies God’s word.
I remember getting so excited with Simbang Gabi at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Los Angeles. For nine days, this celebration allows the Word of God to bring us good news. I remember inviting a dozen or more of my friends to come and at the end of the mass; we had similar experiences, tears, awe, admiration and appreciation of God’s word.
Imagine this, after the homily: we rush to go a friend’s bakery, because the owner also attended mass. We compare notes about the Gospel, the homily and what we may have missed. We are so happy that we internalized God’s Good News for the day. I still remember that Jesus came from a lineage of sinners, all imperfect beings, and we gain such comfort that all these generations have been “qualified” to become the “pass through” human beings from whence the genes of Jesus was derived.
When I got excited listening to the names it became a profound transformative experience because before they were just names, but when a good homilist made us realize the significance of tracing the lineage and realizing the depth of God’s love for human kind, tears flowed during Eucharist and Communion.
Okay, perhaps those were God’s consolations to us, and it may have been made easier by listening to good music from the choir members who took the time to practice so they are singing in harmony, but it was the homily, the profound revelations being shared by the priest that sets the tone for our beings to be emptied, to focus on God’s reading, to want to do more research when we get home so the homily is imprinted in us permanently.
That is the impact of a good homily, much like when a singer and a musician do a great performance, their performances are imprinted within our spirits, and we want to soar with these lyrics. Same with the homily, it is not forgotten.
Like the words of Fr. Camilo Pacanza, the buffet of love and he describes that love is a decision, it is action, it is beyond words. He then follows it up with short vignettes of stories of how lovers interact, how they are lost in their time with one another, how they invest in conversations. Then, he switches to what we must do when we pray, when we are enveloped in the warmth of God’s love for us.
I still remember him saying I “sleep by making love” to Mother Mary. I was so touched by his statement and then he described that when he gets tired, that tiredness does not stop him in the practice of praying the rosary and he starts praying and at times falls asleep praying.
It was such an organic, honest revelation that prayer is something that one can fall asleep with, of that warm embrace of God that I practiced it one day, camping in the woods. I was scared by the darkness and with no lights to illuminate the ground; I remember what Fr. Camilo said. I took my rosary, prayed and fell asleep praying.
But what I remember about that experience is that instead of being afraid, there was a feeling of lightness, of being uplifted, that God has become present in all the molecules of my life, no longer compartmentalized, no longer structured out of my functions of living.
God is now not only in the redwood trees, God is also in the clouds, God is in the milky way and God is certainly my beloved! I felt that even as I slept next to my husband, Enrique, my beloved too.
Here is another homily I really liked. It was Fr. Rodel Balagtas’s description of a discussion that two faculty members had in the seminary. He described one faculty member as insisting on a gauntlet, drawing the line of including only those who are worthy individuals to become priests and to kick out those who are not. While another faculty member described allowing God’s grace to occupy the life of the incoming seminarians until they become qualified as priests.
To me, it showed how we are faced with life’s choices, daily balancing between being right or being wrong, the hard right vs. the easy wrong, that we can shut the door and say, “exclude this, exclude that so we can purify and cleanse the ranks” or the hard right, that “we can show compassion and allow the person’s evolution and growth, but guiding them to find the inspiration to guide them in their spiritual journey.”
I chose the latter even as I have lesser patience listening to homilies that bring out murderous anger than inspiration.
I have been confronted with priests who used corporal punishment to discipline young impressionable girls into obedience, submission and control in the Philippines. That made me question what is a good priest from a young age of 6 years old. These priests were preaching love for others, yet, they could not be compassionate to the young students they were interacting with.
A homily is made up of important attention getters – a word, a metaphor, an image, song verses. Like a dialogue in a cafeteria, or going out camping with my brothers and sisters, or breathing using an oxygen tank, or bacon, chicken and pork and relating it to what we laypersons do in their ordinary lives.
When that connection is made, the parishioners are looking forward to listening to the entire homily. Then when a priest mentions a book he read and what lessons were learned, there is an even greater curiosity to know more about the new ideas being shared. New readings are made more accessible, that the parishioner ‘s curiosity for more depth is encouraged. I found myself buying books about how the saints lived in mission churches we visited on vacation, as priests mentioned their stories in brief during the homily. But the best part of the homily is the depth of spiritual wisdom shared.
What is the import, the essence of the Gospel? What does it mean to be a carrier of Good News? I was struck in a retreat led by Fr. Rodel when he said Mama Mary was the first carrier of Good News. It got my attention and realized that he is right as Mary carried Jesus in her womb. That statement from Fr. Rodel conveyed for me his high respects for women and it meant a lot to me.
Contrast this to a homily where a young priest told the women they were inappropriately dressed and then proceeded to say these women should do so or they would lose their souls. The feminist in me made me question –“Is God the judging God or the God of love?” Why is he looking at clothes of women when he is supposedly deep in prayer?
I still remember this homily of a trip that Fr. Rodel Balagtas took with his fellow visiting priests/friends with Fr. Camilo Pacanza. They were going to Catalina Island and there was only one ferry ride available. After the 7am mass, which ended at 730am, they rushed to go to the Port in Long Beach to catch the 9am ferry. Of course, the distance from Immaculate Heart of Mary Church to Long Beach is at least 30 miles, which is possible to navigate if there is no traffic, but 730am is the peak of workday traffic. So when they got there at 9am, the ferry had already left. But, miracles of a miracle, a special ferry was available at 10 am, and so they got to Catalina Island. They visited the local priests of Catalina Island and for some inadvertent reason, Fr. Camilo got left behind. He found them through his instincts and a built-in compass of finding them at a restaurant by the breakwaters. He kept telling us during the homily how God was with him all day long.
Then, on the way back, their car had a flat tire. They were in an isolated part of Long Beach, with car repair shops already closed. But, luck of luck, they found a man whom they asked to repair their tire. They kept praying that the tire would hold up for the trip back to the church and again, at peak traffic hour and the car did get them home.
Fr. Camilo persuaded us God permeated their entire trip from IHMC to Catalina Island and back. All throughout that day, we hung onto each word he uttered and we were on the edge of our seats wondering if they made it.
That is the effect of a good homily. Long after the priests have completed their homilies, delivered them with gusto, with depth of content, our love for God has been stoked and the love to read God’s word has been nurtured even more.
Homilies light the fires of one’s love for God and homilies gives us an inspiring path when the world outside is in chaos. For where do we draw our strength from to continue our days with? Homilies that preach condemnation, loss of souls, corrupted self are confused, un-generous homilies, that are a result of lack of preparation, lack of reflection and a lack of connection with God who is loving, kind, generous and compassionate.
Lastly, a good homily is grounded, relevant and deepens our knowledge about God’s word as if delivered well, it makes us want to read and to research more. I still remember the pastor at a church in Beverly Hills who invited nuns to speak about the conditions in Africa. That invitation allowed us a spectator’s glimpse of what was happening in that part of the world. After mass, he asked us to go next door to look at the arts and crafts. I bought a well-designed pillow cover as it was made by the women refugee survivors whose homes were burned down.
The homily allowed us to connect to another part of the world, so distant in geography, but much closer to our hearts in compassion. That is what a good homily does, it connects, it grounds us to God’s word and it inspires to be better angels of our nature.
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Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, J.D. writes a weekly column for Asian Journal, called “Rhizomes.” She has been writing for AJ Press for 9 years now. She contributes to Balikbayan Magazine. Her training and experiences are in science, food technology, law and community volunteerism for 4 decades. She holds a B.S. degree from the University of the Philippines, a law degree from Whittier College School of Law in California and a certificate on 21st Century Leadership from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She has been a participant in NVM Writing Workshops taught by Prof. Peter Bacho for 4 years and Prof. Russell Leong. She has travelled to France, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Mexico and 22 national parks in the US, in pursuit of her love for arts.