MEDIUM RARE
Not seven, not ten. Eight minutes, advised the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and that’s exactly how much time the priest took to deliver his sermon last Sunday. I timed him, and he was on the dot.
Eight minutes, said the Pope from the Vatican. His advice had the effect of an ex cathedra decree. For even without a stopwatch, an hourglass, or an alarm clock to help them keep time, which priest or prelate would now dare step out of tune and go over time?
As the Holy Father exhorted, “One thought. One emotion. One action.” All in eight minutes. Stick to the theme (such as the Gospel of the day). The priest who celebrated the mass I attended last Sunday, which was the 11th Sunday in ordinary time, read his sermon from one page, which made me curious. Had he put down his sermon in writing and then rehearsed it, read it aloud, to make sure it stayed within the Pope’s time limit? Very likely so.
Once again the Pope speaks for the laity, though this time his advice is to the clergy. Priests are as human as the people who address them as “Father,” “Your Eminence,” etc., even if very likely many of the clergy think they sound like gods or archangels speaking to an average class of human beings when they address the faithful. You don’t need to have the experience of a pope to imagine how a long sermon delivered by a boring speaker would surely send his listeners to nirvana – especially during an early morning mass.
The next time His Holiness advises the clergy, he’ll want to ask them to now and then look up from the paper they’re reading, look at the faces of their audience, and see them as people, as individuals who are there by choice. As the Introit (introduction) in the old Latin mass puts it so gracefully, “I will walk in unto the altar of God who giveth joy to my youth.”
Priests should be trained to communicate more effectively, that is, get their message across by talking to everyone as if they’re talking to one, one at a time. Public speaking is an art, whether the speaker is clothed in holy vestments or not.