Should All Traditional Latin (EF) Masses Always Include Homilies?

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I’m speaking of low masses, high masses and solemn masses - weekday and weekend masses.

I am not too thrilled when I attend an EF with no homily. It could be 30 seconds. I just want to hear something!

Also, often when there is no homily, I find there tends not to be any readings in the vernacular. Although I have the missal, I do like to listen to the texts read in the vernacular after the Latin.

Disclaimers: Yes, that could just be my flesh, the Mass is the Mass, etc,.
 
I’d actually prefer no homily at all during the mass, and then an hour-long sermon on Sunday afternoon. 😃
 
I thought they always include homilies, unless the priest performs an EF in private.
Then I guess he’d be preaching to himself. 😃
 
I do prefer a homily, however short. However, many people who attend the 6:30a Mass at my parish leave as soon as the priest walks into the sacristy. I’m sure that many of them are trying to fit daily Mass into their schedule while still making it to work on time. To add another 5-10 minutes to Mass for a homily could make a difference between someone making it to work on time, or making it back from their lunch break for Noon Masses.

I’m just grateful for the opportunity to attend Daily Mass, and to have a priest who is willing to be there day after day at 6a (because he listens to confessions before Mass, too) so that I may spend time with my God before fulfilling the duties of my vocation.
 
I do like homilies–good ones–but no, I don’t think that, as a rule, they should be required. Except maybe on Sundays.
 
HonoraDominum said:
I do prefer a homily, however short. However, many people who attend the 6:30a Mass at my parish leave as soon as the priest walks into the sacristy. I’m sure that many of them are **trying to fit daily Mass into their schedule **while still making it to work on time. To add another 5-10 minutes to Mass for a homily could make a difference between someone making it to work on time, or making it back from their lunch break for Noon Masses.

I’m just grateful for the opportunity to attend Daily Mass, and to have a priest who is willing to be there day after day at 6a (because he listens to confessions before Mass, too) so that I may spend time with my God before fulfilling the duties of my vocation.
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This. The Church does not require a homily for daily Mass, so we can’t require it either.

TrueLight, I think your Pentacostal roots are showing - to want to hear preaching and the Bible both! 😃
 
Mrs_Sally said:
This. The Church does not require a homily for daily Mass, so we can’t require it either.

TrueLight, I think your Pentacostal roots are showing - to want to hear preaching and the Bible both! 😃
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Yeah. Time to get my roots dyed. 😃
 
One thing I will point out is that most Protestant churches only do services maybe 2-3 days a week. It seems much easier to prepare for that than being a Catholic priest preparing for seven different homilies on seven different days. Many times Protestant church services will have all the same content on all the days that services are offered and so it is much easier to plan sermons because content changes only weekly instead of daily.
 
I voted yes. I don’t think that it should be required but it would be nice.
 
YoungTradCath said:
One thing I will point out is that most Protestant churches only do services maybe 2-3 days a week. It seems much easier to prepare for that than being a Catholic priest preparing for seven different homilies on seven different days. Many times Protestant church services will have all the same content on all the days that services are offered and so it is much easier to plan sermons because content changes only weekly instead of daily.
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Well, they don’t actaully have to prepare them at all, you know. There are many books available to them of short reflections on the daily readings. Quite frequently, our priest at daily Mass (not on Sundays) will just read one of them out loud in place of a homily.
 
Not always, though I was disappointed there was no sermon for Ash Wednesday. One thing I like about daily low Mass is that it’s usually 20-30 minutes, thus easier to fit in if you have the opportunity during the day. However, it would be nice to simply have some spiritual talks from the priest some evenings once in awhile. Sometimes priests are better at explaining things than books are.
 
At daily low Mass we don’t have a sermon and I prefer it that way. In fact, we don’t make vocal responses, either. It’s almost silent and the church is kept rather dimly lit. It’s the perfect atmosphere for meditation.
 
paperwight66 said:
Well, they don’t actaully have to prepare them at all, you know. There are many books available to them of short reflections on the daily readings. Quite frequently, our priest at daily Mass (not on Sundays) will just read one of them out loud in place of a homily.
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:confused:
 
I definitely think, “no.”

There are a few reasons.
  1. Traditionally, the homily was seen as optional because of the value of the Sacrifice. I love to see this highlighted, and I’m very sad when it’s de-emphasized.
  2. Another old tradition is for a homily to be given after the entire Mass, instead of after the Gospel and before the Creed. This also preserved the notion that the Mass is carefully ritualized, is a Sacrifice, and a priest’s own time for teaching can be afterwards.
  3. Time! If I lived in a place where there were a 30 min low Mass, no homily, every morning at say 7:30 am, that would be awesome, and I could go every day. Or if there were a lunch-hour Mass that were similarly short.
However, I’m always happy to hear a good homily, especially for important days.

I also see no problem with a priest reading the readings in the vernacular from the pulpit, speaking for 30 seconds about the saint or quoting something about the temporal cycle, and then continuing the Mass.

A brief reflection can actually be really brief; you don’t have to committ yourself to writing something original and publishable.
 
newyorkcatholic said:
I also see no problem with a priest reading the readings in the vernacular from the pulpit, speaking for 30 seconds about the saint or quoting something about the temporal cycle, and then continuing the Mass.

A brief reflection can actually be really brief; you don’t have to committ yourself to writing something original and publishable.
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This to me would be ideal when there is no homily.
 
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