I know it is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do so enjoy an ol’ fashioned fire and brimstone sermon.
Week before last we had a visiting priest to our parish. I didn’t catch his name because we had several children with only one shoe and thus we were a minute or two late and didn’t hear the introductions. This, unfortunately, is not an uncommon occurrence. Anyway, we stood in the narthex because the baby was cranky and we were late. The narthex is windowed with speakers so you don’t miss anything there.
Anyway, I didn’t catch Father’s name but he told us that he was eighty years old. By the sound of his voice, I think he probably grew up in Ireland but had been in the States most of his life, his brogue only detectable on a few words. Father may have lost most of the sound of the ol’ country but he was most certainly still old school.
This mostly bald eighty year old man had a booming voice and knew how to use it. Throughout his 30 minute sermon he shook the rafters more than once. I am a fan of the speaking style that uses a judicious amount of yelling surrounded by almost whispering. I think it is a very effective technique that is widely ingored in favor of the card reading monotone of many parish priests.
This eighty year old priest did not need cards, he knew what he wanted to say. He talked about things you hardly ever hear about anymore. For instance Hell. Demons. Yes, you read that right.
Father was talking about the nature of sin and what it does to us and what it means to us. The beginning was a rather typical dissertation on sin when he moved on to mortal sin. Softly, he explained how mortal sin, by our own choice, cuts us off from God. Almost in a whisper, he reminded that God longs for us to return to Him and be reconciled with Him. But if we don’t “WE WILL SPEND AN ETERNITY IN HELL. ETERNITY! BEING TORTURED BY DEMONS. YES, DEMONS! I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP! THIS IS WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SAY. THIS IS WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES. HELL IS REAL AND IT IS FOREVER!” Then Father returned to a near whisper, “But this is not what God wants.”
Being in the narthex, I had a perfect view of the congregation. More than one person jumped when Father bellowed these words and many people were looking at each other surprised but what just happened. So accustomed to the sing songy and spiritless fare, they were rocked by Father’s approach..
Father continued. He spoke of Jesus’ passion and the tortures that he endured even prior to the crucifixion. With great detail that evidenced the long hours Father must have spent in contemplation of the Lord’s suffering, he conveyed with great tenderness the sufferings he endured. The beatings. The Mocking. The Crowning with thorns. Softly Father said, “In mockery of the title King of the Jews, a crown of thorns was placed upon his head. Do you know who placed this painful crown upon the head of our Lord? WE DID! WITH EVERY SIN THAT WE COMMIT WE DUG THOSE THORNS DEEPER AND DEEPER! OH HOW OUR LORD SUFFERED BECAUSE OF ME! BECAUSE OF YOU! DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT IT? DO YOU? I DID THIS TO JESUS! YOU DID THIS TO JESUS!” and back to a whisper “but He forgives us” and almost near tears, “He forgives us…”
This time I looked at the congregation from my window on the nave, but they didn’t look at each other. This time they looked down. Heads hung. It was clear to me that many people were really thinking about it. I know I was. Really thinking. Contemplating our sins.
As we walked back to the car I said to my wife, “Gimme that ol’ time religion — any day.”
March 31, 2009 at 4:06 pm
We had a retired priest at our parish until recently (when he became so ill he couldn’t celebrate Mass anymore) who used to give homilies like that every once in a while. I always loved his homilies because we all need to hear that there are consequences for choosing sin and what they are.
Some folks don’t like hearing that though. I once had a discussion with a man (at our then-pastor’s retirement dinner) who thought that you should leave church feeling lifted up and that Fr. So and So’s homilies didn’t do that. I reminded him that Jesus didn’t come to make us feel good. He came to save us from sin. He also said that His message would divide us and that He did not come to bring peace but the sword.
That guy didn’t talk to me the rest of the night…
March 31, 2009 at 4:11 pm
can he come to my church, I think people are balancing their checkbooks and could use the wake up call 🙂
I needed to hear this today btw, so thanks.
March 31, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Now, now. You know there’s no such thing as sin, just poor choices!
“Bless me Father, for I have poor choiced…”
March 31, 2009 at 4:40 pm
What do some of our Protestant brethren say? “Preach to me while I’m-a tapping my foot!!” Bring it on, man!
March 31, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Just reading about this homily was refreshing. Our preachers are fairly dull overall, but we did have Tim Staples come and talk a few weeks ago. I love it when the word “Jesus” has three syllables. Sometimes four syllables. That’s good preaching, brother.
March 31, 2009 at 5:39 pm
One regret that I have from the seminary is that we never learned effective speaking skills. We had homiletics classes, but they never really dealt with the essentials of public speaking. For priests to be effective homilists, they need to learn how to set up an effective argument, logic, pacing a speech, vocal inflection, and so on. Unfortunately, homilies were approached more like reading a term paper, not very interesting to hear or to write.
People complain about long homilies because they’re boring, not because their long. If you’ve ever listened to a dynamic speaker, they can talk for half an hour and it’ll feel like 5 minutes. Unfortunately, there are too many priests who can speak for 5 minutes but make it feel like half an hour. I know the homily is not the most important part of the Mass, as it is in many Protestant worship services, but we priests still need to give good homilies!
March 31, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Sounds like a great one!
March 31, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I get what you are saying here… but the whole “I did this to Jesus-you did this to Jesus” thing is a bit misguided. Shaming and scaring people into obedience is exactly what caused the previous generation to leave the Church. Christ suffered out of love to redeem a humanity wounded by original sin. Sure, he wouldn’t have had to if we had never sinned, but frothing up weird self-loathing because sinners “murdered” Jesus is really not all that helpful. Would a parent tell his child over and over “You did this to me. Because of you I have to work a job I don’t like! I have to spend money on food for you instead of a new car!”? No, a parent says “I sacrificed this because I love you.” It seems to me much better for that priest to say “I have sinned, you have sinned, and grace is available to help you not sin again. And the suffering of our Lord made this redemption possible. Imagine the suffering of our Lord … and understand it as evidence of how much he loves us….etc.” Sometimes the old time religion offers us great insights, but sometimes it should be left in the old times.
March 31, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I don’t know about the rest of you, but here in the Diocese of Arlington, we hear this kind of stuff all the time, if not always as loud. In fact, there are times when I think I need to take the good Padre aside and tell him he could tone it down a little. But then I’m reminded of my own sins, and begin to wonder if I really should go to Communion this time around.
But, hey, that’s just me.
March 31, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Anon- Well, WE did do “this and that” to Jesus. WE killed him. So what’s the problem with accepting the truth? Of the “fire and brimstone” preaching I’ve heard, nothing has ever “shamed or scared” me into obedience. What “scares” me is the thought of going to hell. Otherwise, I obey out of love. Just as much as God sacrificed out of love, I obey out of love. I don’t shame or scare my children into obedience either, but I sure will light a fire under their asses if they’re not being obedient and CONTINUE to make stupid choices out of nothing more than pure stubborn and pridefulness. We don’t need more kumbyah preachers. We need more reminders that we’re not mini-Gods and the world doens’t revolve around us. A child doesn’t learn humility unless they’re humiliated once in awhile. A child doesn’t learn what and how the parent sacrifices unless they’re shown once in awhile (we’ve got a generation of children that honestly believe money grows on trees).
March 31, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Anonymous, how can we understand the suffering of the Lord, and take it as evidence of how much he loves us, unless we recognize that our sins were paid for by his suffering. Our sins today, not theoretical sins of those living 2000 years ago, but our sins now.
I sinned today. Jesus suffered for that sin. I’ll be confessing my sins tomorrow night (vicariate penance service with all priests of the vicariate in one place…plenty of priests available to hear confession). Can I be properly penitential if I don’t understand what Jesus did for me?
You asked if a parent would tell his child over and over “you did this to me!”. Of course not. But would a brother say “Look how what you did hurt Dad. He’s disappointed and wounded. You won’t go and talk to him, even though he wants you to. This is going to stand between you until you admit what you did was wrong and that you’re sorry for both the action and how it hurt him.”
And sometimes it needs to be driven home with a sledge hammer. Sometimes I need a wake-up call to remind me to guard my thoughts and actions.
March 31, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Well Matt and Dirt: I’m glad I’m not your child and glad I’m not going to your church. Without the proper context of love, Catholicism is just a weird Jansenism. A good humiliation comes from the understanding that we have not properly responded to love, not simply a reminder that we “caused” the Passion. Would we then celebrate that we “caused” the Resurrection? Its all part of a long story of creation, fall redemption and glorification.
Yes, our culture is thick-headed, but they are thick-headed precisely because the old finger wagging doesn’t work an more. Too many church ladies and 80 year old priests have abused it and it has lost its power. It seems to me a much better thing to help people understand their spiritual “illness” as fallen creatures before an omnipotent God, who–though He doesn’t need us– loved us enough to send his only Son to die for us. Meditate on the cruel suffering as evidence of the immensity of God’s love for us. In that light, we are humiliated enough to reach for God’s love which we had rejected. And THEN was reform our lives and grow in sanctity.
April 1, 2009 at 3:00 am
“…not simply a reminder that we “caused” the Passion.”
If a simple reminder isn’t enough to make even the most simpleminded take pause that their actions caused the Passion, then they’ve got no respect. It’s that simple. And someone with no sense of respect, of course, would want the ego-stroking like you describe. They need to be made to feel better first before admitting that they did something wrong.
I’m equally glad that you’re not my child, God knows what He’s doing with giving me the ones I have. But I do wish you’d look with intellect into what and how the Church teaches instead of saying we have to be like others.
April 1, 2009 at 3:11 am
Emigrating to the western world, it is with no surprise that I read the softly softly mumbo-jumbo expounded by anon. Our world is crying out for the TRUTH and what do we get…mmm well, it’s like, er… our sins,like….forced the crown of thorns on um….Our Lord’s head however…. I don’t think that you get it!Have you read the words of Our Lord, the same Lord who did NOT come to bring peace but A SWORD!
This culture is far from thick-headed. It is murderous WITH MURDER IN IT’S HEART.Sorry to be so blunt but so many souls are being lost FOREVER because they are not being told the truth from the pulpit. We desperately need a wake up call. If a BOOMING voice from the pulpit serves as a this wake-up call, play on. Give me excess.
April 1, 2009 at 5:50 am
Here in Denver we are blessed to have a priest in residence at the Cathedral parish. Fr. Andreas Hock is an instructor at St. John Vianney Seminary and is a brilliant homilist in the same vein of the priest in Patrick’s original post.
He draws you in with soft, gentle demeanor before he lets loose with a voice that threatens to crack the marble ambo. But in the end, he always reminds us of God’s saving grace, often overtaken with emotion.
I have to disagree with anonymous when he says that this kind of preaching caused the previous generation to leave the Church. On the contrary, I think it was this “I’m OK, you’re OK” type of preaching that caused the boomer exodus. After all, if God loves us no matter what we do, say, or fail to do…well, there is no need for a Church then, is there?
April 1, 2009 at 1:19 pm
When you think about how God is not just Ompnipotent and Omnipresent but also Atemporal; that He exists outside of Time – during all Time, Past, Present and Future – and that the Holy Mass is the Continuing Sacrifice on Calvary, Christ wasn’t sacrificed just then, but NOW. Christ didn’t die to redeem the World up to then, but to Redeem it TODAY and TOMORROW.
During the Passion, don’t forget to lustily cry, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” We do, every day. The difference is that in AD32 they knew not what they did – We Do.
April 1, 2009 at 3:17 pm
“I’m OK, you’re OK” came AFTER the “you’re never OK” period of the 40s and 50s as an exaggerated response to the Jansenism of the period. Start asking around among your family and friends of that generation who have left the Church and I expect you will find that they will say that scaring children was an acceptable form of formation, that the Church seemed merciless, that priests humiliated you in the confessional (when you are at your most vulnreable)… etc, etc. Excess is never good, and much of it stems from the *heresy* of Jansenism which was a n odd mix of Cavlinism and Catholicism which St. Pope Pius X tried to root out by name. But removing Jansenism does not equal “I’m OK, you’re OK.” That is also an excess. Many people can’t seem to hold together a “both/and” approach and want to flee to the reactionary safety of “either/or.” We’re not OK, but yes we are OK, because even though we sin Christ has redeemed us. Yes, we can accept that without our Fall and personal sins, Our Lord would not have been crucified. But remember the Easter Vigil prayer “O felix culpa! O happy fault which gained for us so great a savior!” We can’t rejoice in our sins, of course, but we can rejoice in our salvation. This is more than “Jesus forgives you for crucifying him”… this is “Jesus came out of love to save you, and though you sin, you can overcome it. Lay your head on his chest and rest in his merciful Heart.” He longs for sinners to return to Him not in servile fear, but as a loving father who wants to HELP his children. Our shame comes from offending him and refusing his mercy and grace. THIS is the Christian message. THIS is the message of joy and hope and balance. THIS is the message that will bring fallen-away Ctholics back to the Church and be heard by a secular generation. It’s the *good* news after all!
April 1, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Anonymous (from 3:11 yesterday), why do you see it as a lack of love, or “bad” humiliation (is there good humiliation?), to make sure people recognize that our sins today are what Christ paid the price for 1976 years ago?
Yes, Jesus paid the price willingly and in love, and continuing to live in sin without concern is the problem. But you can’t recognize that if you don’t recognize sin for what it is.
My children aren’t driven by fear of God’s retribution, they aren’t scared into being obedient because of emotional twisting like “every time you sin, Jesus bleeds more”. But as they get older (the oldest is only 6) they will be taught more and more about what sin is.
I don’t think the “old-time religion” (as Patrick called it) lost its power from overuse, but disuse. Sin isn’t talked about. Confession and Reconciliation isn’t sought enough. People (in general) don’t want to hear that their sins condemn them, and don’t want to think about their actions and the fruits of those actions. They avoid Confession because they want to avoid examining their consciences. Rich has it right…if God loves us no matter what, then why do we need the Church? Without explaining why, people leave. But the why is very important. Yes, God loves us. Yes, God forgives us. But we have to reconcile ourselves to the Lord, seek his forgiveness, and not presume that he will forgive our unrepentant souls.
April 1, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Back when I first became a Catholic, the old Redemptorists preached like this. (I was in a parish which used to have a seminary attached, and it was then the place that the semiretired priests were sent. There were 11 priests there then.)My experience was that they followed the “Lion in the Pulpit, Lamb in the Confessional” pattern. That was when there was a priest in the confessional before every mass, as well as for as long as needed on Saturday afternoon, so it was much
easier than it is now to just go to confession whenever ones conscience was the least afflicted. Those same priests who thundered were very loving and gentle to repenting sinners. I never experienced being humiliated. Since some of these men were in their 70’s and 80’s in 1972, they would have been active priests during the era that anonymous describes. One can’t say that such things never happened, of course.
If a priest in my territorial parish preached like that, I can guarantee that people would complain to the pastor, who would tell them to stick to positive themes and preach about God’s love. A few of the priests from Africa over the years said the word hell when they first got here, but they were shut up fast.
In the diocese of Rochester, everyone who dies goes immediately to heaven and is added to the litany of the saints the following All Saints Day!
Susan Peterson
April 1, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Eulogos, I emigrated from Africa to the ‘west’ so I perfectly understand the word hell being mentioned from the pulpit (without ANYBODY complaining).Strangely enough, I have been so tempted to approach our priest (who’s retiring back to England)and ask him before he departs, to please speak about the 4 last things(death, judgment,heaven,hell). Where I live and as far as I am aware, in certain parishes (socio-economic and race-based, a priest would be ‘freer'( can you believe it?) to talk about these topics and people would invariably thank him for reminding us of theses realities. I think that if my child is heading for a cliff, I am going to warn them utilizing a certain tone of voice.What is patently obvious is that too many catholics don’t want the TRUTH or we want our version of it. A key indicator for me is, more often than not, devotion to the rosary i.e.those who say the rosary regularly would invariably not complain if fire and brimstone hailed down on the congregation.Why? Simply because Our Lady( whose heart was pierced by a sword “so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare”) will open your soul to the realities of sin. I can honestly say that these realities are slowly being revealed to me.Know that I am not doing enough in reparation though.