Are you being fed by the preaching in your parish?

[love4mary]

The preaching of the Word and the Holy Eucharist should be two sides of the same coin. Just look at scripture, they all gathered together to Hear about the teachings of Jesus Christ then they shared in the meal of the Eucharist. Both are needed.

My 14 year old son attended a Methodist church this past weekend (was visiting family), he could quote me chapter and verse and book of what the minister preached from. His homily was centered on What the gospel reading was all about. My son enjoyed attending this church and came away with a better understanding of what the message in scripture was all about. In our parish, our priest will give a homily on Who-Knows-What, rarely does it focus on the Gospel reading and rarely does he hold the attention of the young people (us oldens as well).

Yes, we are being Fed through the Eucharist with our Lords Body Blood Soul and Divinity, but we also need to be fed through His written word as well in order to bring it all together.

For those who might say that we have Religious Education to help us better understand the written Word, I would agree, but not all families are able to take full advantage of that. In my own case, I am the Soul care giver for my mother who is in end stage cancer and can not leave her alone in order to take my children or me for that matter to church for the educational classes. Yes, I can and Do do spiritual readings at home, but I need the leadership of the Church to help me understand some of what I read (I don’t want to go “off the rails” and give my own interpretation).

To be fully and completely fed, we need both the Holy Eucharist AND the teaching of the written Word to fully experience the joy and beauty and Completeness of the Mass that our Lord gave us to celebrate.

 

[benedictgal]

Having read through three pages of this thread, I am most grateful to God that my PV (parochial vicar) is the best homilist in our diocese. He is truly a gifted preacher and, he also celebrates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with the most reverence I have ever seen (short of Pope Benedict XVI). At every homily, he manages to tie in the Sacrifice, most notably in his homily on Christmas Day.

He and I discuss scripture and Church teaching a lot. In fact, we exchange books that Pope Benedict XVI has written. His homilies challenge me and make me think.

When I was at a Paulist parish in Austin, I was very fortunate that many of our priests were excellent homilists (although, they don’t quite reach my PV). The one who came close was ordained 15 years ago, and is now in Toronto. I did challenge him in the beginning because he was a little on the fringe, but, I think he’s calmed down a bit.

The best homilist that I have heard, however, is Pope Benedict XVI. He is brilliant and he really uses the homily as an opportunity to teach the faithful. I enjoy hearing him preach and I will go into Zenit.org to re-read his homilies. In fact, I send exerpts of them to my Cursillo sisters so that they, too, can be fed by Peter.

Incidentally, Jesus charged St. Peter to “feed his sheep.” The Holy Father’s words feed us. We may not be able to all cram into St. Peter’s Basilica; however, through EWTN, Vatican Radio and the internet, Peter can still feed us.

For those of you who may not give the homily much importance, or, to those who are subjected to poor preaching, here is what Sacramentum Caritatis has to say:

1. Given the importance of the word of God, the quality of homilies needs to be improved. The homily is “part of the liturgical action” (139), and is meant to foster a deeper understanding of the word of God, so that it can bear fruit in the lives of the faithful. Hence ordained ministers must “prepare the homily carefully, based on an adequate knowledge of Sacred Scripture” (140). Generic and abstract homilies should be avoided. In particular, I ask these ministers to preach in such a way that the homily closely relates the proclamation of the word of God to the sacramental celebration (141) and the life of the community, so that the word of God truly becomes the Church’s vital nourishment and support (142). The catechetical and paraenetic aim of the homily should not be forgotten. During the course of the liturgical year it is appropriate to offer the faithful, prudently and on the basis of the three-year lectionary, “thematic” homilies treating the great themes of the Christian faith, on the basis of what has been authoritatively proposed by the Magisterium in the four “pillars” of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the recent Compendium, namely: the profession of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ and Christian prayer (143).

Yes, we can read Scripture for ourselves; however, we must always read in light of the Church’s interpretation. That is the key. Remember the Journey to Emmaus. Jesus quoted Scripture to the two disciples, but, he also “preached” the homily to explain just what those passages meant.

 

[Joannm]

I was on one of our diocesan synod sub-committees on the topic of ordained ministry. Our job was to go through the hundreds of comments on priests and deacons that were gathered in parish meetings. The number one issue, by a landslide, that people wanted to see addressed was the qualtiy of homilies.

 

[Phemie]

I don’t go to Mass to be fed by the homily, which is a good thing because my priest’s homilies usually aren’t more than five minutes of fluff. They always make me feel like I just read a chapter from “Chicken Soup for the Soul”.

Scout :tiphat:

He must have gone to the same school of preaching as my pastor who in fact does use “Chicken Soup for the Soul” in some of his homilies. Yesterday it was a reading of Kalhil Gibran’s piece on ‘children’ for the Feast of the Holy Family.

 

[Cathryn]

I agree with many others here, I am fed by the Word of God when I prepare for Mass and during Mass in the readings, the preaching is secondary to me. The Word of God in Holy Scripture and the Eucharist is what is primary. My pastor however is an excellent preacher, but I don’t feel cheated if I have a priest who can barely speak english. I want to hear the Truth, not a good speaker. My parish has Scripture Study classes so I am learning also to feed myself with the help and direction of the Catholic Church.

 

[Biblioassistant]

My pastor gives very short sermons that are funny and they also leave me with much food for thought too. He really has a gift for preaching.

I think it is a gift. One of the most wonderful priests I ever knew could not preach to save his life. He’d get up and ramble for 20 minutes. But he was so holy, and so loved. I know he is in heaven.

 

[beckycmarie]

I enjoy the homilies by Father Jack at my church. They tend to be longer than the average homily, but I do learn something new each week. The church posts his homilies as podcasts on our website. For anyone interested, you can listen in at saintmonicaspodcasts.blogspot.com/