Since
I’ve started preaching at Masses, I have heard several people say, “Good
homily.” I am grateful to hear those kind words. I also try to tell priests and
deacons when I think they had a powerful homily.
In
class at seminary, we have been reading about the Church Fathers: inspiring men
of faith who shaped the Tradition of the early Church by word and action. As I
read their homilies, I learn more that it isn’t what I thought a “good homily”
was that truly makes a “good homily”, and when it comes to homilies, Church
Father St. John Chrysostom is the best.
St.
John Chrysostom preached with great magnetism, drawing droves of Christian and
unbaptized alike for illustrative, relevant homilies in the fourth and fifth
centuries. In fact, St. John was given the name “Chrysostom,” meaning “Golden
Mouth,” the greatest preacher to ever stand in the pulpit. St. John Chrysostom
surely heard “good homily” a few times, too, but he knew that the real work of
preaching occurred when homilies literally walked out the door. St John said,
“The Holy Scriptures were…given to us that we should…engrave them upon our
hearts.” So, when faced with pleasing
the crowd or calling for conversion, St. John chose the latter.
Many
baptized persons showed up on Sundays just to hear the Gospel and sermon. While
listening to the Gospel being proclaimed is very good, many left after St. John
had entertained them for a while. At the risk of ostracizing those who thought
him a great speaker, St. John Chrysostom rebuked them, comparing those who came
for the sermon only to the only apostle who left the Last Supper early: Judas! “Good homily, Father,” didn’t concern St.
John. What mattered, as he said in another homily, was that those who gather
would “become” what they received in Word and in Sacrament, finding conversion
of life beyond entertaining ideas in Word alone. That meant receiving the Body to become the
Body.
One of
those early-departing Christians probably heard the “Golden Mouth” and made a
change. She heard the talk and decided to live it. Not even uttering a word as
she left after Mass, her choice to seek conversion would have meant more than
any sermon compliment. Walking past the preacher on that Sunday morning was his
homily now alive in the heart and life of the faithful. And that, St. John
Chrysostom shows us, is truly the good homily.
