St. Peter Claver

On my most recent trip to the Twin Cities, I attended mass at St. Peter Claver church, an African-American church in the Twin Cities. It was so odd because I ordinarily become very annoyed when a priest routinely ignores the rite and goes their own way instead. But, in this environment, it fit perfectly. The priest didn't stay still during the entire homily. He wandered all over church in an effort to make eye contact with every person there. It reminded me that I've become too accustomed to using notes for my homily. It's so much more effective if I don't. I need to work on that.

So, this weekend, I made an effort to write out my homily beforehand (though I still haven't put it here) and just look people in the eye while I was preaching. I haven't got that much reaction to a homily in a long time. I really need to make this a reality.