This is a video from a great priest friend of mine, Fr. John Parks. Fr. Parks is a priest for the Diocese of Phoenix, and was one year behind me at St. Meinrad. Fr. Parks, Fr. Dustin Boehm and myself were usually the last three up at night in the seminary, usually working on papers in the computer lab late into the night, and so we had a lot of great conversations as we tried to continue to stave off finishing our papers.
Anyway, Fr. Parks is a chaplain for the youth conferences put on by Steubenville, and I saw a priest tweet out this homily, and I knew it had to be shared. Fr. Parks almost decided to do the Hollywood thing as an actor, and I think it is quite apparent why when you listen to him preach.
As a side note to my brother priests - we HAVE to start filming our homilies and sharing them. It isn't narcissism; people crave preaching and we have to do this. St. Paul endured torture, beatings, robberies and shipwreck in order to reach people so that he could preach. Wouldn't St. Paul have used YouTube as well, if it meant reaching a few more people?
Thanks for your preaching Fr. Parks, and keep up the awesome work!
I have listened to perhaps 2000 sermons in my 40 year walk since my initial conversion and baptism. During that time I have come to know when someone owns what they believe. This priest owns the sermon,but on a deeper level the sermon now owns him. It is this kind of preaching that moves the hearts of mankind. I just learned more about the parable of the sower and the seed. I thought I understood it and perhaps I did to a point. However I missed the point. I worked so hard at being the good soil that I neglected nurturing the seed. The next time the occasion arises I will borrow this teaching from Father. I think I will meditate on this much more along with the parable of the mustard seed.
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