When The Sermon During Mass Becomes a Distraction

On this day, 3rd of May 2026, me and my wife attended mass in The Our Lady of the Pilar Parish in Sibonga, Cebu.

I'm not the most devout Catholic there is, although I try to live by the teachings that the Lord Jesus Christ left us. I'm a sinful person, to put things bluntly and short.

Being a former seminarian of a religious community, the Salesians of Don Bosco congregation, I grew up witnessing deeply insightful and theologically sound sermons given the Salesian Priests. They prepare for their sermons, pray about it and ask for guidance to deliver the right sermon. But, of course, they're not the perfect priests one would always expect hem to be and end up being disappointed when they realize they're not perfect.

My formators in the seminary always strive hard to be good examples to us, seminarians, knowing one day we may possibly becomes priests. Spoiler alert: I didn't.

Every month, especially when there are feasts that we prepare for. Us seminarians, after our scheduled rosary which we do every single night, would deliver a sermonette. We are given a topic and we focus on that topic and give a 'sermon' of sorts. We reflect, research and have it checked by our formators. This was our initial training, if we ever becomes priests, in giving sermons.

Prayer, Reflection and Preparation is key.

I knew, yet shrugged at the reality that one day, if I ever go out of the seminary, I will be attending mass at my local parish, ran by diocesan priests. What could possibly go wrong?

Not all diocesan priests are like this, of course, but I've met a good number, they may just be preparing everything in their minds or just blurt out whatever comes to mind, repeats the same points over and over again, and call it a "sermon". But, again, not all. My experience was never like this, the priests that I look up to, write their sermon or have important bullet points in what they want to say.

Thus, comes this fated day of attending the mass at my local parish. With my imperfection and judgmental, egoistic self, I'd ask God for the grace to be prayerful in the mass.

Came the homily, almost three quarters of the whole homily, the priest talked about dogs and was lowkey implying that dogs should be hated. The distraction it caused within me stirred so much emotion, especially that of anger.

For how can a priest who is acting in Persona Christi is using the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to spread hatred towards dogs amongst his flock? He then kept on harping about how dogs may not even be in heaven and that people who have dogs are only following a trend in social media AND that even Christ made a whip and drove out the animals in the temple, lowkey hinting that it's okay to hit dogs when they're in the vicinity of the church because, again, Jesus drove out the sheep, the doves, and the oxen out of the temple. But, does that follow or was he taking what John 2: 15-16 out of context?

Well, first and foremost in John 2: 15-16, the Lord was angry because the temple was made into a market place. So, does it automatically count that when dogs or any animals are within the vicinity of the church, that it is turned into a marketplace? Or is it the actions of the people who have turned it into a market place, like say, making loud voices and taking pictures on the altar after mass at the request of the priest?

What about the birds who get inside the church? Should the priest shoot them because they're inside the church? Afterall the doves were also driven out.

Then I thought, what did Saint Paul in Ephesians 1:10 "...a plan to be carried out in Christ in the fulness of time TO BRING ALL THINGS INTO ONE IN HIM BOTH IN THE HEAVES AND ON EARTH". And this should be familiar, it's often repeated in the Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. No dogs in heaven, huh?

What about those people who rescue these voiceless and innocent creatures, were they just going after a trend, too? Or were they doing it out of the goodness of their hearts?

These types of priests are so high on their pedestal that it almost gives them the luxury and the right to generalize everything according to what they see or think and not base it out of reality - which in effect is actually very insensitive and uncharitable.

Using the celebration and the sacrifice of the mass to spread hate - the audacity!

Realizing that the ambo is utilized by this priest to voice his hatred towards one of God's beautiful creations, I became distracted. I asked the Lord to forgive me and direct my thoughts to Him and not on the misuse of ambo by this priest. I asked for Our Lady's and St. Joseph's intercession to help me overcome the feeling of anger towards this priest.

The priest who is supposed to lead us in prayer is now leading his people to hate on God's creation.

FYI, Father Parish Priest, St. John Bosco, in times of physical danger, was saved by a huge dog who appears out of nowhere to protect him, on multiple occasions.

The dogs and cat that I saved, despite not being an ordained minister nor went to any seminaries to study on how to serve God's people, they do not have hate. They're just happy to see me. They don't go about preaching that it is okay to be violent to other creatures.

Maybe there is something you can learn from them: love.