Scott Hahn's reflections on the readings for Sunday A21

This webpage is described as a reflection, though its URL shows it as being in a section of the St Paul Center website called "homily_helps". I think the URL is correct, in that this is scarcely a reflection but, rather, some helpful notes and observations for preachers, and for others who would study the Sunday's readings before attending Mass. It does not purport to be a ready-to-deliver homily, nor it is one. Dr Hahn identifies several subjects, including:

• • divine wisdom

  • holy joy

  • Christ's kingdom

  • David's kingdom and its successor

  • the church (including ἐκκλησία as the assembly after the exodus)

  • the keys to the kingdom

  • Christ's Davidic lineage and his exodus

  • the papacy

  • rock-foundations (Abraham and St Peter)

  • baptism

  • spiritual nourishment, including sacrifice.

This is a stupendous array of theological concepts, each needing at least a book just to begin to investigate and explain, and Dr Hahn may not have identified them all. I suspect that other Sundays' readings also cover a similarly wide range of doctrinal topics. Those celebrating this particular Mass would normally have no choice but to proclaim (and sing) all of the four biblical extracts that have been chosen for the day. The 1963 liturgical constitution says: "By means of the homily the mysteries of the faith and the guiding principles of the Christian life are expounded from the sacred text," and there is no suggestion that only some of the text from that day's lectionary-pages should be covered by the homily. Not only should all of the readings be read but the priest or deacon who is preaching must somehow cover them all. And in about 10 minutes.

Don't think me irreverent if I ask who in their right mind would try to cover at least 10 massive theological topics in as many minutes? And to do this, not in writing, but as speech, to an audience aged from one month to 100 years, with diverse educational levels, general inattentiveness and some deafness? Yet this is the homilist's weekly task. The situation is, of course, not Dr Hahn's doing; his commentary simply helps to highlight the scale of the challenge.

Dr Hahn's so-called reflection has some 320 words which would take under two minutes to read out (though imagine the impact on the audience). The material could thus be expanded at least five-fold without exceeding the notional 10-minute limit on Catholic homilies. A homilist may nevertheless choose to concentrate on just one subject, such as the papacy. There remains a role, however, for a masterful (and short) summary of the day's four readings and their significance (such as Dr Hahn's). Maybe the place for such summaries is the parish-newsletter and/or -website. The latter is preferable because it can include hyperlinks to sources.