Is a homily required at daily Mass?

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I’ve been to a parish near my work for a few daily Masses, and at each one, the priest has skipped even a brief homily after the Gospel reading.

Is a homily required?

Personally, even if not required, I think they should at least have a homily of 30-60 seconds commenting on the Gospel.
 
No homily is required on a weekday mass, but they are “recommended.”

So it’s up to the priest.
 
zz912 said:
Is a homily required?
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Only on Sundays. Otherwise, not required, but it sure is nice isn’t it 🙂 My old Parish priest at weekday Mass would, as you say, speak for about 2 minutes on the Gospel and perhaps the saint of the day too. It was a nice touch at a weekday Mass.
 
zz912 said:
I’ve been to a parish near my work for a few daily Masses, and at each one, the priest has skipped even a brief homily after the Gospel reading.

Is a homily required?

Personally, even if not required, I think they should at least have a homily of 30-60 seconds commenting on the Gospel.
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No.
 
A homily is not required, but it is strongly recommended.

Usually a homily is delivered after the Gospel reading, and its general purpose is to tie the Gospel reading to our every day lives. It’s a speech that shows how the Gospel relates to us and our lives.
 
zz912 said:
I’ve been to a parish near my work for a few daily Masses, and at each one, the priest has skipped even a brief homily after the Gospel reading.
Is a homily required?

fall fox

I usually go to another parish than my own for daily Mass. At that parish, Father comes in the door, says his hello to Jesus in the Tabernacle, then goes to the ambo and reads the readings, goes back to vest for Mass, then Mass starts. Father KNOWS the bible! He ALWAYS gives a 10 to 15 min. in depth homily. My own parish has a mass Tues. & Thur. I go Thursday to serve, Lector, EMHC, NO homily.
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zz912 said:
I’ve been to a parish near my work for a few daily Masses, and at each one, the priest has skipped even a brief homily after the Gospel reading.

Is a homily required?

Personally, even if not required, I think they should at least have a homily of 30-60 seconds commenting on the Gospel.
Click to expand...
The homily is mandatory on Sundays and holy days of obligation at a Mass with a congregation. On weekdays the homily is optional but recommended. It is especially recommended on the weekdays of Advent, Lent, and Easter.
 
Matthew_Holford said:
The homily is mandatory on Sundays and holy days of obligation at a Mass with a congregation. On weekdays the homily is optional but recommended. It is especially recommended on the weekdays of Advent, Lent, and Easter.
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fall fox

We never seem to have a Priest that is younger than 60 yrs old, that being said, they have been Priests for about 30 yrs or so, how hard can it be for them at that point in their lives to share a little incite to what the scripture said. Even 20 or 10 yrs for that matter, it’s their vocation.
 
fall_fox said:
fall fox

We never seem to have a Priest that is younger than 60 yrs old, that being said, they have been Priests for about 30 yrs or so, how hard can it be for them at that point in their lives to share a little incite to what the scripture said. Even 20 or 10 yrs for that matter, it’s their vocation.
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I go to daily Mass at 7:00 a.m. 95% of the time, we hear a homily.

Many people at daily Mass, especially the early morning or noon Masses timed for working people, don’t have the time that a homily can add. They are looking for a 20-25 minute Mass and then off to work. Especially at those times of day, many priests try to accommodate. I’d give the priest a break, not assume that he’s doing this from inattention, laziness, or failure to follow his vocation. Probably, he’s responding to parishioners who have asked him to speed it up so that they can attend Mass and not be late for work.

One morning after Mass when one of our priests did not give a homily, I asked him why. He said “nothing came to me.” He’d been a priest 15 years. As much as we’d like them to be, they are not always “on.”
 
fall_fox said:
fall fox

We never seem to have a Priest that is younger than 60 yrs old, that being said, they have been Priests for about 30 yrs or so, how hard can it be for them at that point in their lives to share a little incite to what the scripture said. Even 20 or 10 yrs for that matter, it’s their vocation.
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Yes they could, I agree but there could be any number of reasons why they don’t do it. May be they keep the Mass to the minimum length for those folks who are short on time: going to Mass before work or in their lunch break. May be the priest needs to keep the Mass to a minimum length to fit it in to his daily schedule with the 101 other things he has to do. I can appreciate why you’d like those few words. There could be lots of reasons why father isn’t doing this besides the two examples I gave. In the end he’s doing nothing wrong.
 
Matthew_Holford said:
Yes they could, I agree but there could be any number of reasons why they don’t do it. May be they keep the Mass to the minimum length for those folks who are short on time: going to Mass before work or in their lunch break. May be the priest needs to keep the Mass to a minimum length to fit it in to his daily schedule with the 101 other things he has to do. I can appreciate why you’d like those few words. There could be lots of reasons why father isn’t doing this besides the two examples I gave. In the end he’s doing nothing wrong.
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fall fox

You are quite right saying that he is doing nothing wrong. The two Parishes I frequent my own Parish and my second Parish, the first has a Mass at 12:00 noon, the second has a Mass at 8:30 am, both have mostly retirees there, save one guy and he comes in from the Rolls Royce factory for the noon Mass, good for him.
I would expect a Mass for workers to be around 5:00 to 6:00 am. I guess it’s that my second Parish always has a homily, so I would think my own Parish could do it as well. I suppose we can put it off to wishful thinking on my part.
As a kid, I served a 5:00 am Mass often. No homily.
 
fall_fox said:
fall fox

You are quite right saying that he is doing nothing wrong. The two Parishes I frequent my own Parish and my second Parish, the first has a Mass at 12:00 noon, the second has a Mass at 8:30 am, both have mostly retirees there, save one guy and he comes in from the Rolls Royce factory for the noon Mass, good for him.
I would expect a Mass for workers to be around 5:00 to 6:00 am. I guess it’s that my second Parish always has a homily, so I would think my own Parish could do it as well. I suppose we can put it off to wishful thinking on my part.
As a kid, I served a 5:00 am Mass often. No homily.
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I don’t go to daily Mass. There’s no where has it at a suitable time. I really don’t think I’d go to one at 5 or 6 a.m. but then I’m a night owl not an early bird. I’d rather go to Mass after work than before. I work in a Catholic college and we have daily Morning Prayer, which I attend.
 
Our priest was gone during the World Youth Day and the priest who filled in for him was from England and visiting here.

On the first day he said that he normally doesn’t do a homily during daily Mass but that since that was the custom here at our church he would.

And great homilies they were! 👍
 
Matthew_Holford said:
I don’t go to daily Mass. There’s no where has it at a suitable time. I really don’t think I’d go to one at 5 or 6 a.m. but then I’m a night owl not an early bird. I’d rather go to Mass after work than before. I work in a Catholic college and we have daily Morning Prayer, which I attend.
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fall fox

I am fortunate that I was able to retire, so my time is my own now. I really don’t really mean to be critical of the Priests that don’t have a little incite to share, but it seems to be a waste of a cavern of information our clergy has gleaned over their lifetime in the service to God.
 
As others have said, a homily is not required. And many people at a daily Mass are trying to fit it in around getting to work, lunch break, meeting the school bus, etc.

That said, I’ve found that mid-morning Masses, say 9 or 10 am, much more frequently have homilies. The attendees are usually on a more flexible schedule.

I do also love homilies at daily Mass, but I am there to see Christ on earth, so will do without one.
 
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