Do you want to improve your homilies and your preaching?
Read this 5-part series!
As I wrote last time, in 2014 I attended a preaching conference as part of St. Augustine’s Seminary 100th anniversary events. It was a who’s who in preaching, with all the talks by homiletics experts from all over North America.
I think about homilies all the time. Not so much because I have to prepare one at least once a month, but because I have to listen to one at least once a week. I’m also a public speaker, and TV and radio host, so I am thinking about communication all the time.
After the conference I dug out a paper I wrote when I was in formation for the Permanent Diaconate for our homiletics course. One of the main questions we had then (and that I still have now) is “what is a homily?”. How would you respond to that question?
Do you want to improve your homilies and your preaching?
Read this 5-part series!
Pope Benedict wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini that “the homily is a means of bringing the scriptural message to life in a way that helps the faithful to realize that God’s word is present and at work in their everyday lives.” (VD 59) Add to that the 18 pages that Pope Francis dedicated to preaching in his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. In it he writes: “The homily is the touchstone for judging a pastor’s closeness and ability to communicate to his people. We know that the faithful attach great importance to it, and that both they and their ordained ministers suffer because of homilies: the laity from having to listen to them and the clergy from having to preach them!” (EG 135) It was with these thoughts in mind that I attended the preaching conference held at Toronto’s St. Augustine’s Seminary in 2014. The conference was titled, “How to Make Catholic Preaching Better.”
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A reflection for the 4th Sunday, Advent Year C. The readings are Micah 5:1-4a, Psalm 80, Hebrews 10:5-10 and Luke 1:39-45.
“Blessed are you who believed that the word spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Mary is blessed for many reasons, but today, let’s consider the fact that she is blessed because she believed the promise that was made to her. She believed the word.
If you’re like me, you have a hard time believing things until they happen; maybe I just don’t want to be disappointed and I don’t want to spend too much energy on something that hasn’t happened yet. Recently, I received two words that I didn’t really believe – not until the last minute.
A reflection for the 33rd Sunday, Ordinary Time, B. The readings are Daniel 12:1-3, Psalm 16, Hebrews 10:11, 14-18 and Mark 13:24-32.
Today is the thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time – next Sunday is the 34th, the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year- that’s when we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King…. Then, the following Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and we begin the new Church year. This year is year B and we’ve been reading from the Gospel of Mark. Next year is Year C and we will be reading from the Gospel of Luke. On that Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, in two weeks, we are going to listen to a very similar Gospel passage as today’s – Jesus telling the disciples about what sounds like, is the end of the world.
This Gospel passage – from the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Mark is written in what we refer to as “apocalyptic” in style. Apocalyptic refers to a kind of writing which was normal in Biblical times. The first reading from the 12 Chapter of Daniel is also apocalyptic – and so is the Book of Revelation. Apocalyptic writing is sometimes hard to understand because of the way it is written. People think that apocalyptic means that it’s about the end of the world – it isn’t. Apocalypse doesn’t mean end of the world and destruction. Apocalypse means unveiling; revealing – literally, pulling back a curtain That’s why the book of the apocalypse, the last book of the Bible, in English is called the Book of Revelation – because it reveals something to us. Partly because some of the messages are hidden – they are veiled. But mostly because in reading it, a deeper meaning is revealed. Apocalyptic writings are commonly used in Scripture when the readers – those to whom the book is written – are being persecuted. This is the case in the Book of Daniel; written during the Greek conquest of Israel. It is also true of the Book of Revelation, written during the Roman persecution of Christians. It is also true of this 13 chapter of the Gospel of Mark. It is written in a way that those who are persecuted would understand, but also, so that the persecutors would not understand.
deacon pedro 