Give a Preacher a Break

Just a notion of caution Father as you judge the content of other priest's homilies. I agree 100% with you that one should pray for the Holy Spirit to come through one's preaching, not the personal opinions of the preacher (I say a similar prayer to the Holy Spirit before I write and before I actually preach my homilies). However by your subsequent powerful statements, you run the risk of not doing that.

Because you feel a homily is "warm and fuzzy" you cannot presume that the preacher did not in fact invoke the Spirit. Perhaps that inquietude you feel is the Spirit's way of speaking to you!

This is what, I believe, the synod meant by asking the questions:

-- What do they say to me?

-- What must I say to the community, taking into account its concrete situation?

and

"The preacher should above all allow himself to be questioned first by the Word of God he proclaims."

Indeed, we should preach the sanctity of life, but if the Spirit is not addressing that issue in that particular moment, who are we to change the message?

I'm sure you too have had the experience of being thanked for a message you don't recall having preached. This is the action of the Spirit. Perhaps the warm and fuzzy is what that person needed to hear.

Just saying you might want to cut your brother priests a little slack.

Merry Christmas!

Friar Paul Schloemer OFM Conv.