Reducing Pulpit Narcissism

saintsabina.org

One of many the beautiful and good and true things that pulled (pushed?) me into the Ordinariate experience was an obvious qualitative difference in preaching between Ordinariate priests and too many diocesan clergy. Ordinariate priests I encountered routinely focused on the word of God in their sermons, not themselves nor some trivial item drawn from the sports section of a mainstream rag. Those same Ordinariate priests practiced an ars celebrandi fully informed and shaped by the sublime nature of the Holy Eucharist.

The actions of those holy priests I encountered were full of care and reverence for Jesus Christ in the sacred Liturgy. I quickly learned that one of the reasons why this was/is so is because of the clarity of the orientation of the Ordinariate Mass itself. That is, Divine Worship, the Ordinariate Form of the sacred Liturgy, sometimes known as the Traditional English Mass, is typically celebrated ad orientem. Which is to say, there is no doubt that the Ordinariate Mass is - as are those who serve it - oriented entirely to God. For starters, the Ordinariate Liturgy is not plagued by frothy "liturgical dance", laity appropriating clergy roles, and hideous vestments. Divine Worship is not something we do; the Mass - every form of the Mass - is something Christ does. Our task is to match our actions to His. He freely makes available to us His grace to help us do just that. Unfortunately, what I found in diocesan liturgies was a habitual inversion of our relationship to the Mass. Instead of serving Mass, it seemed like the Mass was being contorted into some sort of Pelagian mess, the very thing tradition-minded folk are wrongly accused of for being mindful of rubrics which guide us into right action and right prayer. A conspicuous absence of humility, and a priest staring at the congregation across the altar as if he was praying to us rather than God, became obstacles to worship.

For priests who are inclined to make themselves the measure of the Mass, which is to say those who constantly draw attention to themselves in homilies by itemizing their own baggage, the pandemic is a Lent of sorts, an opportunity for them to reevaluate the subject matter of their sermons and to adjust the way they do things in light of the fact they have no one to impress but themselves. Without a crowd to fawn over him, there is no need for a priest to engage in self aggrandizing pyrotechnic preaching. Don't get me wrong. A little drama goes a long way toward clearing the spiritual sinuses and improving the health of congregants infected to varying degrees by the virus of sin. There's drama, and then there's empty-headed hyperbole or psychobabble that pretends to be wisdom, though, to the ear attuned to biblical truth, is mere pablum.

The Mass requires artists more than used car salesmen or auctioneers, and by artists we don't want innovators or improvisors. We need men who are willing to stick to the script of the greatest drama God wills to make present on earth. We need men who are formed in the prayerful celebration of the Mass, men who encounter Jesus and draw others into encounter with Jesus. The Mass, celebrated with a mind to the Author of truth, goodness and beauty, He Who is Truth, Goodness and Beauty, will be a transparent window through which shines the Light of God into the hearts of men and women who will be drawn further into communion with God and His Church.