Are you being fed by the preaching in your parish?

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Is there good preaching out there?
Are you being “fed by the word” when you are at liturgy?
Do priests look for ways to become better preachers?

I know that all priests have different gifts, but it seems that preaching is a gift that priests are often lacking in - and don’t work very hard to foster and improve upon. I go to liturgy for many reasons every Sunday - and one of them is to listen to the Word of God - and hopefully reflect upon the priest’s homily to help me see how the Word is alive today and directed at us in the here and now. And yet so many times, homilies don’t seem to be connected to the Word, they don’t seem to be well thought out, they are rambling, they are poorly organized, they sometimes as though they were given without any planning or preparation.

It is even more frustrating now that we are not allowed to have reflections on the word given by lay preachers - who were often quite frankly - much more organized and better prepared with clearer delivery than those given by the priests - especially those priests who seem to have gifts that lie in other directions.

Since our lay preachers are not allowed any more, is there something that could be done by priests to understand how hungry many of us are - and how hungry for the Word we still are when we leave…
 
Here’s the flaws, in my opinion, of what you just asked:

1.) We do not go to Mass to “fed by the Word”. That is a very evangelical protestant idea. We go to Mass to participate in the unbloody sacrifice of Jesus, and to receive His Body and Blood, on which we are fed.
2.) It doesn’t matter if the priest’s homily is one of the worst ever, as long as he makes an effort to stick to the subject. Even if he does not (and I have been at a couple Masses where the priest tried to incorporate so much information and metaphor into his homily he was “all over the map”), the main function of Mass is the Eucharist, not the Liturgy of the Word.
3.) There is opportunity to study Scripture in adult classes. If your parish does not have one, get together a group and start one. Mass is not the time to go into deep exegesis. The homily has to reach as many people of all ages as much as possible.
4.) “Lay preachers” have never been allowed. If your parish just lost them, then all that time, there was an on-going liturgical abuse.

If your priest is having trouble with his homilies think about giving him a gift subscription to a Catholic magazine or web site that sells homily ideas, and helps priests with writing good homilies.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/homiletic.asp
 
Yes and no but regardless, I always find the time to feed myself.
 
Agree with Chicago above. 10 minutes of a homily should NOT be compared to a 40+ minute Evangelical preacher’s sermon. Apples and oranges.

Our Parish has so many opportunities to sit under teaching of Priests, deacons and gifted Lay people - and we are a small town - that one person would be busy every day of the week trying to hit them all!

Then add to that Catholic TV, print and Radio - oh and now internet - whew! You can be fed every moment of every day on preaching 👍
 
jimmie said:
Is there good preaching out there?
Are you being “fed by the word” when you are at liturgy?
Do priests look for ways to become better preachers?

I.
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our pastor is arguably the best preacher in the diocese, but I come to Mass because I am fed in the Eucharist, as Christ intended.
 
I have to disagree with the idea that we are not there to participate and be fed by the word - about 1/3 of the mass is devoted to that time…and five to fifteen minutes of that is the time for the homily. And it’s “prime time” - it’s the time when the congregation is assembled together and are there to listen and learn - not as you learn in a class - but it’s a time to learn and reflect together. And it’s often “prime time” that seems wasted - which is a great frustration to me.
 
puzzleannie said:
our pastor is arguably the best preacher in the diocese, but I come to Mass because I am fed in the Eucharist, as Christ intended.
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👍 👍 👍

What she said!!!

I am being fed by the preaching in my parish - the preaching in Mass and the preaching in other settings. The homily is just the appetizer.
 
I find that every Priest’s Homily will feed me spiritually if I pray beforehand, asking the Holy Spirit to give me what I need…

I am very scared of the mentality (personally) that I HAVE to be fed spiritually by the Priest…that’s a Protestant mentality (IMHO). I’ve been a Protestant bouncer and by putting too much faith in the words of the Preacher/Priest for five minutes, is just not what I want to do.
 
John Paul II in Dies Domini speaks of the Table of the Word. Indeed that seems to imply that we are fed by the Scriptures and the homily.
 
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:
 
We have some extremely good preachers among the priests in our city. I would put them up in a “preaching Olympics” against the best of the evangelical preachers anytime!

I disagree with those who think preaching isn’t important.

Several of the orders have been dedicated to preaching. I read a biography of St. Anthony of Padua that told about how his preaching drew in vast crowds. And St. John Chrysostom was called “golden-mouthed” because he was one of the finest preachers of all time. And St. Francis often used object lessons (e.g. dipping his hand in tar, the Nativity pageant, etc.) in his preaching.

I think that nowadays, when so many Protestant pastors are fantastic “preachers” and draw in huge crowds of gawkers, it is important for priests to work as hard as they can on good presentation of well-thought-out homilies. This isn’t “Protestantism,” it’s good CATHOLICISM! Following in the footsteps of the saints! The saints were pleased to be used by God as PREACHERS. Shouldn’t our priests seek the same gift?

I read in Imitation of Christ, a very ancient book steeped in traditional Catholicism (not a “Protestant” book by any means), that the Mass has TWO tables–the Table of the Word and the Table of the Eucharist, and that we are to partake and eat at BOTH tables

However, I don’t think that Catholics should go hopping from church to church foraging for the best “preacher” in town. I think we should ask the Holy Spirit to help us glean something good out of every homily, even if the priest is not a gifted speaker. We have one priest who doesn’t give pithy homilies, but his heart is so big and beautiful that I don’t listen to his words, I listen to his heartbeat and try to get in step with how he lives.
 
Cat said:
I read in Imitation of Christ, a very ancient book steeped in traditional Catholicism (not a “Protestant” book by any means), that the Mass has TWO tables–the Table of the Word and the Table of the Eucharist, and that we are to partake and eat at BOTH tables
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While I agree that we should partake and eat at both tables, I don’t agree that the Word of God and the homily are equal. I can be “fed” by the Word even if the homily is weak. Of course, it takes a lot of effort and study to attempt to do this on your own. With the exception of several priests on EWTN, I’ve never been fortunate to experience great preaching. Therefore, I’ve always had to do a lot of extra work to discern what the Lord is trying to tell me in the readings.

God Bless,
Gary
 
preaching ABOUT the Word of God, no matter how good, is NOT the Word of God. Yes, man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Yes, as long as the priest is in communion with the Church and preaches under the guidance of the Holy Spirit he is giving great benefit, but it is still NOT the Word and still less does it equate to the gift of the Eucharist, the Word Made Flesh and dwelling among us.
 
I attend Mass at many a parish, so the homiletics I hear and far and wide. I do find that I can always get something of value out of it if I’m looking. Still, often enough, the teaching is weak or doesn’t connect with life’s experiences in a way to be paricularly enriching. I would agree, therefore, that this is an area where many more priests could use some work. Afterall, it really is the one time each week where he has a chance to reach most people. If it is allowed to pass too easily, what is probably the best opportunity for helping parishioners to come to some form of consideration which will help them grow spiritually has been forsaken.
 
puzzleannie said:
our pastor is arguably the best preacher in the diocese, but I come to Mass because I am fed in the Eucharist, as Christ intended.
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In my Archdiocese we have some very good homilists (note Priests, not lay-people who were never allowed to give a homily!!) I am blessed to have three of them serving in my Parish alone. I can be guaranteed a good Homily no matter what day of the week I attend Mass or who is saying the Mass!

Like Puzzleannie though, I go to Mass to be fed int he Eucharist as Christ intended.

Brenda V.
 
Brenda_V said:
In my Archdiocese we have some very good homilists (note Priests, not lay-people who were never allowed to give a homily!!) I am blessed to have three of them serving in my Parish alone. I can be guaranteed a good Homily no matter what day of the week I attend Mass or who is saying the Mass!

Like Puzzleannie though, I go to Mass to be fed int he Eucharist as Christ intended.

Brenda V.
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I’m thirding this. 😉 Our priests give excellent homilies. But every Sunday (and dail Mass that I can attend), I come for the Eucharist.

Another poster suggested praying before mass to be enligtened by the Holy Spirit through the homily–that’s also a great idea.
 
My Sunday parish does alright in terms of homilies, but I would recommend St Michael’s in Midtown Manhattan if anyone is ever there. I am preparing a letter to the Bishop extolling his holy and gifted priests there. I get more in a 5 minute daily Mass homily than in many other ones.

I went to the Tridentine Mass in Kankakee on Saturday and the priest there was filled with the Holy Spirit in terms of his homily. Wow!
 
Joannm said:
John Paul II in Dies Domini speaks of the Table of the Word. Indeed that seems to imply that we are fed by the Scriptures and the homily.
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Indeed the whole point of giving both the Altar and the Ambo prominent positions was to bring back and re-establish the importance of Jesus being present in his proclaimed Word.
Surely the Mass is a sacrificial rite and we are fed Jesus himself, but we are also to be fed by Jesus in his Word. That is one reason why it is no longer taught that getting to Mass before the Offeratory is enough to meet the Sunday obligation.
 
Recently a preist left our parish that used to always just “Wing it”. Now we have a preist that is from Ireland and studied in Italy. It is so obvious that he prepares and takes his homilies very serious. he is a true blessing to our parish.
 
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