ePriest.com: Your Spanish Homily

Readings

Reading I: Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4
Psalm: Psalms 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Reading II: Second Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Gospel: Luke 17:5-10

Preaching Tip

Taking Control

A major reason why our homily at the second Mass is often better is because we have control of our material. Too bad we don't have it that well in hand before the first Mass.

Methods of taking control of our material will vary, depending on whether we preach with a text in front of us or preach with nothing in front of us. But for everyone, even those who use the full text, taking control of the material involves more than going over it a couple of times. 

One good method of taking control of the material is this:

  • Once you have the final product, list on a blank sheet of paper a short sentence (or phrase) for each of the major sections, skipping a couple of lines between each. This is not an outline (you leave out a lot of things that would be in an outline). You should end up with only three or four (not many more) sentences/phrases. [e.g., the titles of each ingredient in the "Homily Pack"]
  • Go over these until they are completely clear in your mind. Above all, get a sense of how they flow from one to the other. Work with them until you have the conviction that it would be impossible to forget these kernels.
  • "Let go" of the rest. You don't scuttle it; you simply decide that you are going to focus on the pillars of your development and talk about them from the heart. You're not going to worry about the exact words for each.
  • Note that this doesn't mean that all the effort we spent writing the whole thing was wasted time. The primary purpose of writing in preparation for a homily is not to produce a great text; it is to think through a thought that will become a great homily and to work through ways of expressing and organizing this thought. Too many homilists mistakenly worry more about the words and phrases than the core thought. Take hold of the thought and you take hold of your homily.

Now you're ready to go out and preach from the heart. (Interesting that this is probably very close to what we do in preparing to give a weekday homily... and another reason why these are often better.)

Preaching Better, by Bishop Ken Untener, pp60-61

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

SEÑOR, AUMÉNTANOS LA FE

En aquel tiempo, los apóstoles pidieron a Jesús: "¡Auméntanos la fe!" El Señor contestó: "Si tuvierais fe como un granito de mostaza, diríais a esa morera: ‘Arráncate de raíz y plántate en el mar'. Y os obedecería".

Es éste, hermanos, el momento de preguntarnos por la firmeza de nuestra fe, es la hora de saber en quién o en qué confiamos para encontrar salida a los problemas del mundo actual y de nuestra vida íntima. Si nos contentamos con satisfacer nuestras necesidades corporales; si nuestra preocupación principal es la salud, el trabajo, la casa, el dinero, las vacaciones, nos conviene orar fervorosamente, diciendo: "¡Auméntanos la fe!". No olvidemos que nuestra fe se ha de expresar poniendo nuestro ideal y esfuerzo constante al servicio de un mundo mejor, para que se cumpla en nosotros y en todos, el propósito salvador de Dios.

1. Estamos rodeados de enigmas y a cada paso nos hacemos las mismas preguntas: "¿Por qué triunfa la injusticia en el mundo? ¿Por qué se ensaña la enfermedad sobre mí? ¿Por qué? ¿Por qué? El mundo secularizado no puede darnos respuestas. Sólo la fe es capaz de iluminar los enigmas de la existencia y revelar el misterio de la historia.

2. La fe es la confianza total que el cristiano tiene en Dios, incluso en los momentos más difíciles de la vida. Nos lleva a pensar: "Todas las cosas pasan, pero sólo Dios permanece". Dios guía nuestros acontecimientos y sabe sacar bienes incluso de los males que nos ocurren. Las desgracias no son capaces de desalentar a los que tienen fe, porque la fe nos ayuda a aceptar con paciencia las dificultades. La vida de los santos es un verdadero reclamo a nuestras conciencias.

3. Una fe separada de la vida no sirve para nada. Toda mi vida debe entrar en la fe y toda la fe debe inundar mi vida, iluminarla y transformarla. Es verdad aquello de que ¡se cree como se vive y se vive como se cree! El gran guitarrista español Narciso Yépez narra así su conversión: "Tenía la fe dormida y revivió; y desde aquel momento no he dejado de saber que soy hijo de Dios. Un hombre con una cita en la eternidad. Dios no contaba para nada en mi vida, pero ahora no hay nada, ni lo más trivial, ni lo más serio, en lo que yo no cuente con Dios".

La fe tiene que ir madurando y haciéndose adulta como la persona. No podemos conformarnos con tener la fe infantil de nuestra primera comunión. Acerquémonos a Jesús en la comunión y supliquémosle como los apóstoles: "¡Señor, auméntanos la fe!"

English Translation

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C                        

LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH

At that time the Apostles asked Jesus, "Increase our faith!" And the Lord answered, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to that mulberry bush, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

This, brothers and sisters, is when we must ask how strong our faith is, it's time to know in whom or in what we place our trust to find the way out of the problems of our world and our own personal life. If we are happy just fulfilling our bodily needs, if our main concern is health, work, our house, money, vacation, then it would be good for us to pray fervently, saying "Increase our faith!" Let us not forget that our faith must be brought to life placing our ideal and putting forth constant effort for a better world, so that God's saving plan may be carried out in us and in everyone.

1. We are surrounded by mysteries and at each step we ask ourselves the same questions, "Why does injustice triumph in the world? Why am I mercilessly afflicted by illness? Why? Why? The secular world can't give us the answers. Only faith can enlighten the enigmas of life and shed light on the mystery of history.

2. Faith is the total trust that a Christian places in God, even at the most difficult moments of life. It makes us think, "Everything passes by, but only God remains." God is guiding us in the midst of life's situations, and he can bring good even out of the evil we experience. Misfortune cannot discourage those who have faith, because faith helps us accept difficulties with patience. The lives of the saints are a real wake-up call for our conscience.

3. Faith separated from life is completely useless. My whole life should enter into my faith, and my whole faith should fill my life, enlightening and transforming it. How true the saying, we think the way we live and we live the way we think! The great Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepez says his conversion happened like this. "I had a dormant faith, and it came back to life; from then on I have never stopped knowing that I am God's son. A man with an appointment in eternity. God didn't have any place in my life, but now there is no situation, neither the most trivial nor the most important, in which I do not depend on God."

Our faith needs to mature and grow up, just like a human being. It's not enough for us to have the childish faith of our First Holy Communion. Let us draw close to Jesus at Communion and ask him as the Apostles did: "Lord, increase our faith!"