These were the words that Father Tom Cassidy, SVD, used to criticize the practice sermons of the students at Divine Word Major Seminary in Tagatay, Philippines. Known as an inspirational preacher and retreat master, Father Tom passed away last week at the age of ninety after sixty years of service in the Philippines and several years in pre-1949 China. He was given a fiery send-off to his eternal reward by his homiletics student and successor, Father Lino Nicasio, SVD.
As I was listening to the eulogy about Father Tom, I was reflecting on the sermons which I have given lately and which seem to have lost their fire. There is a combination of various causes such as fatigue from the long and arduous Christmas season, lack of inspiration, my incapability to say what I really want to say in Tagalog and perhaps preoccupation with other problems.
As the assistant pastor in the Parish of the Risen Christ for five years, I now realize the difficulties of preaching to the same people week after week and year after year as the liturgical readings are repeated. As a teacher and principal in Japan, I usually spoke to many different groups so I could use similar ideas which seemed fresh to each group. Here I am challenged to come up with new angles on the readings in order to preach well. Beginning already on Monday I have been spending hours each day to prepare-- sometimes with questionable results. This is one of the reasons or excuses why I have not been blogging on this site.
To preach with more fire I need to read a lot more theology to deepen the content of my sermons, literature to improve my language and other contemporary sources such as newspapers to stay up-to-date. I also need to dialogue more with our poor and marginalized parishioners to I can preach about something which is relevant to their very particular situations in life. The Sunday sermon is so very important because sometimes it is the only time we have to touch the people during the week.
Maybe it is only a problem of writer’s block, but please pray for me that I may become a worthy preacher and witness of the Divine Word.
Sermons can be a pain not only for the listener but also for the one who is trying to prepare one with FIRE.