Fr. Gorazd Cetkovský, O.Carm.
Surely, even you who are not priests have sometimes thought about what it must be like to preach during services and what it must be like to prepare for a sermon. Recently, while preparing for a weekday mass, I found that "it was not going well". I do not know how other priests experience such situations, but I am tempted towards complete skepticism. Whispers come to me like: "It's all in vain! No one is waiting for any sermon... You are here struggling desperately and the people will just wait for you to finish!" And similar discouragements. This time, I did not push these doubts away, but faced them head-on – I took them as a starting point for my contemplation. And I would now like to offer my thoughts to you, so that you may also apply them to yourselves if you wish.
Perhaps it would benefit us if we always asked ourselves before a service or at the beginning of a speech (even before the preacher opens their mouth to start those few minutes of speaking) the question: If I could choose from three options right now:
- to hear an encouraging, nice word, or
- to say a nice word myself, or
- to remain completely silent,
which would I choose?
And now I will elaborate a bit on what our answer might relate to.
Why would we (some or sometimes) choose silence? I do not think it is only out of convenience. Perhaps it is more because we feel overwhelmed by the many words around us, by the information and impressions that we cannot absorb fully. Therefore, we intuitively feel that we need peace and time to digest and process this flood. Deep within us, there is a need to be in silence. And sometimes that need is very strong. Stronger than the desire to hear something new.
Or would we choose the option to say a nice word ourselves? But that would mean we have one within us at this moment! And here it is fitting, without false humility, to admit: having a nice word in our heart, a word that is alive within me, important and "carries me", that overflows from me – is grace, a great gift. Truly! However, sometimes it seems to us that there is no one to say it to. Before whom to express it. And here we must urgently remind ourselves: we always have someone to say it to. We can always express what is strong (or even heavy) in us to God. Turn to Him with it! Otherwise, we will really not break the vicious circle of our complaints that in prayers we only beg.
But it is also possible – despite everything I have cast doubt on at the beginning – that during a service many of us want to hear a nice word. But will the preacher succeed? And even if they are honestly prepared and trying very hard, is it guaranteed that they will "hit" our expectations? Even here, there is a "lifebuoy for the case of shipwreck": we can always recall in our hearts some nice word we have heard before. One that has done some good work in our heart and brought forth fruit. And then we will not be so disturbed that we are unable to "tune in on the same wavelength" with the preacher. We always have the opportunity to draw from the treasure of our past experiences!
So, while no specific sermon on the particular reading from Scripture came to mind that weekday, I am grateful for the thoughts I realized in that context and now share with you, and I want to carry them within me. Experienced priests in educating parishioners and in their religious education adhered to the principle: "Do not assume anything." This means not hesitating to start completely from the basics repeatedly. In our situation: the rule that a sermon must be heard during a service presupposes that we need to hear a word and are open to it. But is that really the case every time?
It is necessary to listen to your heart. Honestly ask it whether it is full or empty, whether it needs to be stirred or allowed to rest. It pays off. And I believe that God Himself wishes for us to treat our hearts well. Our inner self is, after all, our most personal home and at the same time the temple in which He lives and where we meet Him. Saint Paul already urged us to treat our heart like a temple.
Thus, on the margin of one unsuccessful sermon for a specific weekday, we came up with an impulse that can be applied for any day and for any occasion. Not hesitating to deviate from the usual scheme and asking our heart… Just as a shopkeeper or pharmacist politely asks us. Just as we ask small children, even though their wishes are not commands for us… But that would be a topic for another reflection.
