What makes a homily good?

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zab said:
Somehow I don’t think the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen would omit humor from his homilies.
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I find that humor is helpful, but not telling jokes. Rather, a humorous comment lightens the mood, but it needs to flow naturally. Often I will say something and people find it funny and I don’t expect that – but when it happens, the lightness seems to draw people in to the more serious “meat” of the homily.
 
Try to focus on one important point. My pastor frequently has enough points in his homilies to cover 3 or 4 homilies. Keep it interesting and don’t beat a dead horse. You know the old saying, “If you’re going to preach, know when to say 'amen!”’
 
There are many points to a good sermon or for that matter any talk.
However these are the 3 most important of all:
enthusiasm, enthusiasm, enthusiasm.
 
Lasting_faith said:
I think is is time for grandpa to tell a story.

We had a long time ago a priest who never really did learn our language, and he also did like long sermons. But he did use one from the parish to translate what he first had wrote. One Sunday he did say to the nice lady who did this job, “I am absolutelu sure it was longer when I did write it”.

Do you need more advice?
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:rotfl:
 
A good homily is one that teaches the faith:

It can teach theology, life lessons, history, praxis, soteriology, eschatology, law, almost anything related to the faith.

It can be geared toward special groups (small children come to mind), in the right circumstances, but otherwise generally needs to be aimed at the adult.

It can be long or short. It can be technical or general. It can include humor or be totally serious.

We’ve all been to school; we all know what a good lecture (and a sermon is in the form of a lecture) from a bad lecture. Droning is bad. Too much levity usually undermines the point. Irrelevance is a waste of everyone’s time. Lack of focus loses the teaching moment. If it’s dumbed down too much it fails in its essential purpose of teaching.
 
johnnykins said:
A good homily is one that teaches the faith:

It can teach theology, life lessons, history, praxis, soteriology, eschatology, law, almost anything related to the faith.

It can be geared toward special groups (small children come to mind), in the right circumstances, but otherwise generally needs to be aimed at the adult.

It can be long or short. It can be technical or general. It can include humor or be totally serious.

We’ve all been to school; we all know what a good lecture (and a sermon is in the form of a lecture) from a bad lecture. Droning is bad. Too much levity usually undermines the point. Irrelevance is a waste of everyone’s time. Lack of focus loses the teaching moment. If it’s dumbed down too much it fails in its essential purpose of teaching.
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Well said Johnny!👍
 
FrStevenJones said:
An excellent homily is one of the most things Catholics are looking for, especially at Sunday Mass. I had very good training in seminary, in homiletics. But I’m interested in hearing this from the perpective of the faithful in the pews; It helps me to hear your point of view. So, what makes a homily a “good” one versus a “bad” one?
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Good:
  • Initiates change of heart
  • Makes you ponder over and over again and urges selfless action or amending life
  • Draws you to Jesus
Bad:
  • Too much of a sermon to a so called sinful world which is actually far better than the world of the clergy
  • Makes you enjoy listening and admire / praise the speaker
  • Makes you feel sick.
 
Pitcharan said:
Good:
  • Initiates change of heart
  • Makes you ponder over and over again and urges selfless action or amending life
  • Draws you to Jesus
Bad:
  • Too much of a sermon to a so called sinful world which is actually far better than the world of the clergy
  • Makes you enjoy listening and admire / praise the speaker
  • Makes you feel sick.
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Thank you for those points!

Could you explain this one, I don’t understand your meaning " - Too much of a sermon to a so called sinful world which is actually far better than the world of the clergy"?!?
 
FrStevenJones said:
Thank you for those points!

Could you explain this one, I don’t understand your meaning " - Too much of a sermon to a so called sinful world which is actually far better than the world of the clergy"?!?
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Example: Recently the Sunday homily in all our dioceses was about fighting corruption. Every priest exhorted Catholics to fight corruption as it had reached alarming proportions in the country and gave examples of the kind of corruption prevailing in the country. But they never talked of fighting corruption in the church which was as bad if not worse than the outside world. They never ever discuss the evils within the church or the need to cleanse the church. Majority of the Parish Priests do not allow formation of a “finance committee”.
 
I like it when the homily is taken from the Mass readings, making application of Scripture to one’s life. Over the years, I’ve been to a lot of non-Catholic services and the sermon is almost always taken from Scripture, like an exposition of it. I like that but that style is harder to come by in the Church.
 
zab said:
Somehow I don’t think the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen would omit humor from his homilies.
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Humor and jokes are two different things. Also, we should note that we have a lot of video of Bishop Sheen giving talks on various subjects, but we should be cautious of concluding what his homiletic style was from this; it may have been quite different.

I know the former pastor at our parish who was the best homilist I ever heard, gave 5-10 minut homilies on Sundays, always interesting and to the point, many times focused on very good topics such as our call to holiness or the effects of sin. He also gave weekly 2 hour adult education classes in our parish. Completely different in that setting. Still riveting to listen to, but in mass he was a preacher, in the class he was a very interesting professor.
 
tafan said:
Humor and jokes are two different things. Also, we should note that we have a lot of video of Bishop Sheen giving talks on various subjects, but we should be cautious of concluding what his homiletic style was from this; it may have been quite different.

I know the former pastor at our parish who was the best homilist I ever heard, gave 5-10 minut homilies on Sundays, always interesting and to the point, many times focused on very good topics such as our call to holiness or the effects of sin. He also gave weekly 2 hour adult education classes in our parish. Completely different in that setting. Still riveting to listen to, but in mass he was a preacher, in the class he was a very interesting professor.
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I guess it depends on what your definition of joke is. Nothing wrong with telling a little story a humorous intention to get the attention of the audience.
 
  1. Short
  2. Has an identifiable topic (has a focused message)
  3. Inspires fresh conversion and re-dedication to Christ and holiness
  4. Fosters mediation upon the mysteries and/or the readings
  5. Avoids rants, rambles, pet topics, division, complaints, politics, creating special or super holier rules and beliefs, fundraising, video presentations, aisle wandering, etc.
 
Hello.

This is just my opinion, please take or leave as you see fit.

To me, what makes a good homily is whatever comes out of the mouth (and actions) of a good, holy priest, intent on his relationship with God. It’s from a good, holy priest (or deacon) who is well catechized because he can never learn enough about His beloved God. It’s from a priest who’s convinced God is God and wants his whole congregation to go to Heaven. It’s from the type of priest who is more concerned with what God thinks of him than his parishioners. It’s courageous and honest and full of love.

Sorry to go on like this. Will stop here. Please keep me in your prayers.
 
crenfro said:
Hello.

This is just my opinion, please take or leave as you see fit.

To me, what makes a good homily is whatever comes out of the mouth (and actions) of a good, holy priest, intent on his relationship with God. It’s from a good, holy priest (or deacon) who is well catechized because he can never learn enough about His beloved God. It’s from a priest who’s convinced God is God and wants his whole congregation to go to Heaven. It’s from the type of priest who is more concerned with what God thinks of him than his parishioners. It’s courageous and honest and full of love.

Sorry to go on like this. Will stop here. Please keep me in your prayers.
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Hmmm… I like it! Thank you.
 
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