Twenty-Sixth Of Year B
October 2006
Paddy and his wife Mary; a late middle aged couple, were heading home to their small farm in the horse and trap, after attending the last session of the parish mission. The sermon was on sex and marriage and the dangers of hell fire for those who had illicit sexual relations. They travelled for a while in silence. Then Mary said to Paddy, `do you have sexual relations?' Paddy thought for a while and replied `no, do you?'
Mary replied `I don't think so, at least none of them turned up for my mother's funeral.'
Last year, when we were setting up the parish web-site it was suggested that I put my sermons on the web-site. My first reaction was gratification that someone thought the sermons were worth reading but I immediately realised that this would leave me wide open to criticism and even ridicule. So I said no and continued to say no for some time. From time to time, after Mass, people remark to me that they liked the sermon or found it helpful. Others remark that they had no idea what I was talking about or disagreed with what I said. Having sometimes enquired as to what they found helpful or what they disagreed with I would often discover that the meaning they took from the sermon was not the point of the sermon at all. This I found a bit strange because whether you know it or not, I weigh each word very carefully when I write my sermon. So Paddy and Mary are not alone in misunderstanding a sermon. The more I realised this the more I realised the value of having the sermons on the web-site, as a reference.
So don't hesitate to check and see if the homily you think you heard is the same as the homily which was actually given.