{"id":2810,"date":"2010-06-29T13:27:38","date_gmt":"2010-06-29T18:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=2810"},"modified":"2010-12-20T23:32:02","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T05:32:02","slug":"do-homilies-work-ex-opere-operato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/06\/29\/do-homilies-work-ex-opere-operato\/","title":{"rendered":"Do homilies work ‘ex opere operato’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hallowed dictum ex opere operato<\/em> says that sacraments work automatically, apart from the dispostion of the minister or recipient, if the rite is done validly, because grace comes from Christ and not from human effort. Does ex opere operato<\/em> apply to the homily?\u00a0Could it be that it doesn\u2019t matter how well or poorly prepared or preached a homily is, since the homilist is acting not as himself but in persona Christi <\/em>(“in the person of Christ”)? That like baptism, or transubstantiation, it works, no matter what state the homilist – or the homily –\u00a0is in?<\/p>\n

I recently came across an op-ed in a Catholic publication that just brushed the edge of this argument.\u00a0The quality of a Mass doesn\u2019t depend on the homily, the writer suggested, nor should we should expect it to.\u00a0To yearn for good preaching, to seek it out, undervalues the true point of the Mass, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I was left with the vague sense that my desire to have an effective \u201cliving commentary\u201d [GIRM 29] on the Scriptures was at best something of an imposition on busy priests, and at worst, a sign of failing faith in the Eucharist.\u00a0It is sufficient that there is a homily.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t buy it. Sacrosanctum concilium <\/em>called the homily a \u201cpart of the liturgy itself\u201d [SC 52] –\u00a0which implies that good liturgy entails good preaching.<\/p>\n

In the midst of all the bustle around the introduction of the new translations of the Mass texts, and how they might affect our liturgical practice and experience, I want to make a plea for thinking deeply about the translation that is under local control:\u00a0 the homily.\u00a0What is the quality of that translation – the moving of the Word out of the Lectionary and into our lives?<\/p>\n

Add in that my parish is deep into a process of examination and renewal, where we have said (among other things) that we desire challenging and relevant homilies and I\u2019ve found myself pondering what principles one might apply in crafting a good homily.\u00a0What moves me?<\/p>\n

I want to hear other voices. No, this is not a call for lay homilists at Mass.\u00a0Instead it is a plea to bring in, explicitly and regularly, voices from our long and rich Catholic tradition.\u00a0Tell us what John Chrysostom, Augustine, Karl Rahner, Catherine of Siena, Hildegard of Bingen and Dorothy Day thought.\u00a0What advice did the desert fathers and mothers have that speaks to us now?\u00a0How might the Rule of St. Benedict <\/em>make a difference in the lives of those of us who live in the thick of the secular world?\u00a0What was in that last papal encyclical that we might need to hear?\u00a0 Please, no generic platitudes or ferverinos.<\/p>\n

Engage us in dialog.\u00a0Ask us what we heard in your homily, or didn\u2019t. Last week I asked my 16 year old son what he might have said about the Sunday pericopes (as a weekend sacristan at the parish, he hears 3 of the 4 homilies in a weekend!).\u00a0 His first response was disbelief, \u201care you asking me what I would have said if I were the priest?\u201d His second was to say that what he heard was a tough challenge to follow Christ , \u201cI would have hit hard on vocations.\u201d None of the homilies sounded quite that note.\u00a0 How can you plant seeds unless you have a sense of the ground in which they might grow?<\/p>\n

Be practical.\u00a0 What practices might help us deepen our sense of God at work in our lives?\u00a0Talk about ways to engage the Scriptures, ways to pray.\u00a0Lectio divina.\u00a0The Examen.\u00a0The Rosary.\u00a0Silence.\u00a0Talk about what we might try if we find prayer a rough go.\u00a0We are here because we long to encounter the living God.\u00a0Help us grow in the ways that lead us to find God in all things and at all times, not just in the hour we are offering now.<\/p>\n

Whether or not we find the new translations a breath of air or a weighty yoke, perhaps we can commit to to thinking about the translations we undertake each time we preach, or hear, a homily. God\u2019s people deserve more than a homily that is merely there, they deserve one that moves them.<\/p>\n

Michelle Francl-Donnay, Ph.D.
\nColumnist, Catholic Standard & Times<\/em>
\nquantumtheology.blogspot.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could it be that it doesn\u2019t matter how well or poorly prepared or preached a homily is, since the homilist is acting not as himself but in persona Christi? I don’t buy it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46],"tags":[838,837],"class_list":["post-2810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homiletics","tag-ex-opere-operato","tag-michelle-francl-donnay"],"yoast_head":"\nDo homilies work 'ex opere operato'? - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/06\/29\/do-homilies-work-ex-opere-operato\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do homilies work 'ex opere operato'? - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Could it be that it doesn\u2019t matter how well or poorly prepared or preached a homily is, since the homilist is acting not as himself but in persona Christi? 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