Regretful reading

Do you ever regret something that you read that was truly moving and perfect?

In preparing for Sunday's homily I read a homily the Holy Father preached some time ago about building a house on rock.

This is not an uncommon practice for me. I often read what Pope Benedict XVI has said on passages on which I'll be preaching, with the aim of picking up a nugget or two to expound upon. Sometimes, though, there simply are no nuggets, only one beautifully crafted homily. In such sitations the only option I see is viable is to adapt the Pope's homily to my congregation.

This weekend, this will not be so easy because this weekend is Committment Weekend for the Built on Faith, Renewed in Hope campaign.

Parishioners across the Diocese will be asked to fill out pledge cards for the campaign (I'll blog more about this tomorrow sometime, I hope). Consequently, I wanted to preach a shorter homily than usual, but this homily of the Holy Father has captivated me.

Not only is it a longer homily than I wanted to preach this weekend, it's also a bit longer than my normal homilies, though I doubt anyone will notice (except those who aren't really listening anyway; and they're never happy).

I've tried to return to the homily that I started earlier in the week, but I can't bring myself away to the Pope's homily. Oh, what is a priest to do?

There must be a way to shorten the homily without losing its beauty... Saint Anthony, lend me your tongue!