Is your priest a bad preacher
who says nothing substantive?
Instead of complaining, give him a book of Benedict XVI's homilies:
The emeritus Pope has left very well worked-out sermons
on the various readings for the liturgical year
October 11, 2016
When a diocese or an episcopal conference commissions surveys and inquiries among Catholics who attend Mass and asks what would they most like to be changed in the parish. And the response whether in Europe or in the Americas is the same: the homilies.
There is a clear consensus that homilies and sermons in the Catholic parishes of both hemispheres are usually boring, repetitive, empty of content, and in general, are not prepared, much less worked on!
Of course, it is easier to complain about the priest than to help him with a solution. You will probably help most constructively by giving him - through the parish - the homilies of Benedict XVI which are classified according to the Liturgical Year.
If the priest cannot prepare his own homilies, he could always easily adapt from an authentic master homilist as the emeritus Pope.
The Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC, bac-editorial.es) has just published
El Año Litúrgico Predicado por Benedicto XVI: el Ciclo A, which supplements the first volume published earlier for the homilies corresponding to Cycle C of the liturgical year.
"Even before he was elected pope, his homilies were magisterial works of approaching Biblical texts starting from the questions and problems of contemporary men. As Pope, his homiletic style was further enhanced by the enrichment of his preacher's heart with the universal experiences of the Petrine ministry," the BAC says in its pre-publicity for the new volume.
"Besides his homilies on the readings for the first cycle of the liturgical year, this volume also includes the homilies at the start of his papacy, which are authentic treasures of preaching and the Christian life".
A parish priest - or any faithful Christian who wishes to understand Scripture better as it is presented during the liturgical year by Benedict XVI - will find a variety of homilies.
For instance, there are three homilies on Pentecost and three Regina caeli mini-homilies on this feast day.
For the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, there are also three homilies and an Angelus allocution.
For the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, the book has two homilies preached about the baptism of babies as well as of adults.
For Palm Sunday, two homilies that Benedict XVI delivered in Cologne in 2005 and in 2011 in Madrid.
Both volumes were prepared by Pablo Cervera Barranco, former editor of BAC and current editor of the Spanish edition of Magnificat magazine (www.magnificat.com/espanol/)
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find the blurb on the Cycle C volume, nor information on whether there will be a Cycle B volume.
In 2008, 2009, and 2010, Sandro Magister undertook to anthologize Benedict XVI's homilies throughout the liturgical year in the three annual cycles of Gospel readings prescribed by the Novus Ordo - the Gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke, respectively.
I definitely have someone in mind who could certainly benefit from Benedict's homiletic art, but he is much too invested in his own off-the-cuff
improvisations on Scriptural exegesis, and probably thinks there is nothing for B16 to teach him.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/10/2016 02:55]