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I glanced nervously at my husband, wondering if he was thinking the same thing I was.
We were visiting a new-to-us parish. When it came time for the homily, the priest began describing his recent birthday party — who attended, how he prepared — instead of talking about anything spiritual.
“Are we going to hear anything about today’s Mass readings?” I thought with growing impatience.
Fortunately, situations like this are very rare. I’ve been to hundreds of churches around the world, and not even a handful of homilies have left me with no insightful takeaways.
But every now and then and for many different reasons, it happens, and we encounter a homily that doesn’t quite speak to us. (While priests are an instrument of the Holy Spirit, they are obviously people just like us, and we all can have off days!)
The Church tells us that homilies are supposed to help us understand the Scripture readings and apply them to our lives so that we become more like Christ. Pope Benedict XVI once wrote:
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.
But sometimes we don’t find that kind of preaching.
What can you do if the homily isn’t leaving you with any kind of spiritual insight? If it’s kind of a dud?
I decided that an interesting way to answer this question for myself was to reach out to some of the best preachers I know and ask them what they wish the “people in the pews” could know about homilies.
What they said surprised me, humbled me, and gave me a renewed appreciation for our great priests.
1Whether or not you love the homily, pray for the priest!
One of the best preachers I’ve ever heard was Fr. Paul Scalia. I was lucky enough to be his parishioner for some years, and his homilies were always impactful and memorable. I would find myself thinking about them all week.
When I reached out to him to ask what he wishes more people knew about homilies, he said:
I think people should pray for their priests while they're preaching. You know, he is the instrument of the Word of God coming to you. You should pray that he's an effective instrument.
His words convicted me. Whenever I’ve heard not-great homilies, it has never occurred to me to pray for the homilist! I am so grateful for this insight and it will change my response in the future.
2Search for the “scraps” from God’s table
Another great homilist is Fr. Mark Bernhard of Notre Dame Parish. He shared a powerful observation drawn from a class he once took with Scripture scholar Scott Hahn.
Somebody asked him about preaching. He had been a Protestant preacher himself, and he could probably give a better homily than most priests. He said that, as somebody in the pews, when he's listening to a homily, he approaches it as something like a beggar looking for scraps from the table. He said there's never been a homily where he couldn’t take away even one tiny snippet that the Lord wants to give him. He approached homilies with this humility and an expectation that “The Lord is going to feed me here, even if it's just a tiny little crumb.”
Looking for even the smallest spiritual message is a beautiful way to approach homilies that don’t quite speak to you.
3Do your own preparation and prayer
Fr. Lee Brokaw of the St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois is another gifted preacher.
He encourages people to prepare themselves for Mass with reading, learning, and prayer, so that they can get the most out of the Scriptures and homily.
The more that we put in, the more we're going to get out. The more we prepare -- like if we read the readings ahead of time -- the more we're going to be able to draw from the preaching. This goes for both the priest and the people. For the priest, we need to really put in the time in the chapel with Jesus when we prep. But also for the people, you can get in and start praying Lectio Divina yourself and really start to get into the Word during the week, in the same way that a priest would be praying the Scriptures and prepping. And then that's when you’ll really start to see how God’s Word is living and active.
This suggestion is a great one, and can help us draw spiritual insights and benefits from the Mass readings even if we don’t get much insight from the homily. If you need a place to get started thinking about the Mass readings, you might check out these homily podcasts.
I never did quite figure out why that priest had so much to say about his birthday party, but I know my response will be different the next time a homily doesn’t really speak to me. Instead of getting impatient, I’m going to pray for the homilist speaking, look for a tiny scrap of spiritual insight, and do my own reading outside of Mass.
And most of all, I’ll pray for priests everywhere, who work so hard in their reading, writing, and preaching to bring us the truth of the Gospel.
