Why are the homilies so boring

[OddBird]

the space between a person who is doing his or her best and a person who has come in need – that space is holy ground.

This is a beautiful quote.

And it could be used word for word in another situation, that of spiritual direction.

From my point of view (that of a Reformed pastor), one of the things a homilist does is trying to give collective spiritual direction. One on one spiritual direction, with a directee with whom you can have an actual dialogue, is difficult enough, and often feels, from my point of view, like playing darts blindfolded after you’ve been given a good spin; so, spiritual direction to an entire congregation…

And the incredibly humbling and wonderful thing is that – somehow it works. One of the things I try to remember both as a preacher and as a congregation member (who has sat through homilies I found mediocre, interesting, totally infuriating, funny, educational, too long, too short, not really relevant, too close to the text, too far from the text, quickly forgotten, or completely life-changing) is that the people assembled here are the body of Christ. The preacher adresses the whole body, not just individuals. In that body, there are some parts who will be fed, or cleaned, or healed, or sometimes just gently reminded that they matter, and some who won’t. But through the parts who are being cared for, the whole body is being cared for.

(Well, at least that’s what I tell myself when I look up from the ambo and meet mostly blank stares from those who are not studying the announcements leaflet or browsing through the hymnal )

 

[ontheway1]

I have to disagree here. The priest is the shepherd of the flock and it is his job to lead us to green pastures. He has an important role to play in spiritual formation.
Many are not capable of doing this, but the sheep can’t be blamed for that. What you are suggesting is that the sheep have to do the work, find their own way, and then go and listen to the shepherd say nothing.
You would not say that of a doctor, an analyst, an auto mechanic or a teacher. Why should the priest be absolved of his responsibilities?

 

[JoeShlabotnik]

The OP said they were bored.
It has been my experience in life that you get out of something what you put into it.
I believe some people go to Mass expecting to be entertained by the Priest. Perhaps a little joke and then the main course, the serious message.
This is not song and dance theology.
The purpose of our being at the Mass is to give glory and praise to the Lord. We pray, we sing, and we receive the Sacrament.
It is not about us. It is about God.
In my opinion, it helps a lot if a person takes the time in advance to read what the readings of the day will be. To reflect and think about what the message will be. To pray in advance, as well.

 

[JoeShlabotnik]

What you do is what more should do.

 

[phil19034]

Why are the homilies so boring and not meaningful. Seems like the priests do not care about our growth

Honestly, yes, some priests are terrible speakers.

However, others are awesome speakers and homilists who give awesome homilies.

The thing is: Protestant preachers HAVE to be good speakers or face possiblly getting fired because that’s the only thing they are hired for. Preaching is their primary duty.

Catholic priests, on the other hand (and the Orthodox too), are not hired; they are called to administer the sacraments. Preaching at Mass is NOT their primary duty, it’s important, but not their primary role.

Therefore, some are not very good at it. Even if they work at it every week/day, they may still be boring or provide milktoast homilies. But then again, there are others who are very natural speakers and deliver riveting homilies. I’ve listened to several in my 42 years of life.

God bless

 

[midori]

Why are the homilies so boring and not meaningful. Seems like the priests do not care about our growth

Is your only growth coming from the homily?

What was the last thing you read by a Saint or a Blessed?

Even if you have a poor homilist— what was the Gospel yesterday?

What was the Gospel the previous Sunday?

What was the Gospel the Sunday before that?

If you can’t remember the last three Gospels without looking them up, you might not be as attentive as you think you are.

There’s a nice little snippet in Isaiah–

So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.

It’s a good reminder that God’s word does not return without having had an effect, so I ought to be able to get at least one useful snippet from the homily. Whether I actually implement it in my life is on me.

 

[phil19034]

Do you record your homilies on the internet anywhere? I’m sure (by many of your posts) that you give wonderful homilies and I’m sure many of us here would love to learn more from you.

However, if you wish to stay anonymous, I’m sure everyone would understand.

God bless!

 

[CelticWarlord]

Why are the homilies so boring

I used to complain in a similar way about the preaching in the Protestant church I attended. But very few people are skilled at public speaking. Unfortunately, many of the rest think they are. Following a call to ordination will not give one a charismatic personality. Even the most interesting topic can be presented in a dull fashion. I now try to give the speaker a break and not judge them by their delivery but by the content. I should add that Homilies are so much shorter than the lengthy dissertations I had to sit through that there isn’t time to get bored. I enjoy them all and just tune out if I feel Father is beginning to ramble. I’m just grateful to be sitting in on it. And has already been said, the homily is not meant to be the highlight of the occasion.

 

[ASC]

Some priests are better speakers than others. Anyway, the Mass isn’t about you. If you don’t think the homily is doing anything for you, just pray.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Our priest told us we should bring a little journal and write down a thought that
jumps out at us innthe homily.

I notice if I sit up straight and really pay attention and not let my mind wander and
really follow along with the homily and what the priest is saying, I am not
bored.
If I don’t concentrate and do not pay attention, then I get bored.

Our priest has also told us to make sure we read the readings before Mass so
we can familiarizw ourself with the Sunday message.

It makes me feel bad for the priest when he looks out at the congregation and people are looking at their bulletins, shuffling their feet, sitting there with their
eyes closed, clearly not paying attention. Yes, the homily is just part of the
Mass, but these priests have so much education and knowledge of scripture,
to share with us and we really need to reciprocate by listening and gaining
wisdom. Granted, some are better at delivering the homilies than others,
but we owe them the respect of paying attention.
So try sitting up straight in the pew and get in a position that makes you
focus on the priest and his words. Take a journal and write 1 or 2 thoughts that
seemed important to you or perhaps write them on your bulletin.

 

[EricF]

I run a small retail business. One day one of our parishioners, an older lady, was in the store and we got to talking about church. It wasn’t long before she was ranting and complaining about the priest. It wasn’t nice stuff at all. Finally I suggested to her that when he gets to bothering you so much, just look up a little. (Our crucifix is on the wall behind the altar and above the tabernacle.). I told her it isn’t really about the guy standing there talking and waving his arms. It’s about Jesus.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

What was the Gospel the previous Sunday?

What was the Gospel the Sunday before that?

If you can’t remember the last three Gospels without looking them up, you might not be as attentive as you think you are.

Come on man, I can barely remember what I did two days ago, much less the gospel from 3 weeks back without looking it up or at least spending 5 minutes mentally remembering which church I was in, who the priest or deacon was and then I might remember what he read, and again I might not. If I looked it up then that usually jogs my memory. Since I also try to go to daily Mass there’s about 18 sets of readings bouncing around in my head over 3 weeks time (I missed a few days due to Labor Day holiday).

If you can remember back that far without looking it up, I congratulate you on your excellent memory and maybe that is a goal for me to strive for, but it’s pretty unealistic to expect everybody to remember what Gospel was read when, stretching back for weeks.

 

[adamhovey1988]

I do know what you mean, I honestly had a priest once, that thought his job during the homily was to bash the pope, you know not explain the readings. That being said, I have also heard very good preachers, it might just be because of where I live, but some of the deacons around here are former Baptists, and they know how to preach. It might just be what you’re experiencing, but that doesn’t mean that it’s like that everywhere or all the time.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Some priests are better speakers than others. Anyway, the Mass isn’t about you. If you don’t think the homily is doing anything for you, just pray.

Hear hear.

I think when we get one of these “the homily is boring” comments, there’s a great tendency for people to blame the person making the comment for not being engaged enough, not studying enough on his own to get something out of the readings or homily, not doing these little exercises like pre-reads or journaling etc. And maybe if the person making these complaints was my child or my relative, I’d suggest this stuff in the same way I’d encourage them to adopt good study habits.

But the fact of the matter is that some priests and deacons just aren’t good speakers. There is a priest from my past whose Masses I attended regularly in my early 20s. In hindsight I have grown quite fond of him and think of him as rather an unsung gem for various reasons. However, homilies were NOT one of his strong points. I think he preached on the same 2 or 3 topics almost every homily for several years, and often his homily bore only a tenuous relation to the Scripture. There were many Sundays when, between this priest going on for the umpty-dozenth time about the same depressing topics and my own anxiety which I did not know how to control then, I just wanted to get up and walk out of the Mass and I had great difficulty staying in my pew.

It got to the point where I thought there might be something wrong with him because the homilies were so repetitive, he seemed hung up on certain topics and also depressed. Looking back, I could hypothesize some reasons for his state of mind in view of things then going on in the neighborhood and diocese which this priest, who was very well educated (WAY above the local working class parish) and no fool, was likely aware of.

I go back to that church sometimes and the current pastor is like the polar opposite of the priest I remember. Upbeat, very optimistic, cheerful, praise-the-Lord style verging on charismatic guy who delivers zingy and exciting homilies. The Mass attendance seems to be doing very well.

Bottom line is that some priests and deacons just aren’t strong homilists. Learn to offer it up, or go to Mass elsewhere.

 

[midori]

If you can remember back that far without looking it up, I congratulate you on your excellent memory and maybe that is a goal for me to strive for, but it’s pretty unealistic to expect everybody to remember what Gospel was read when, stretching back for weeks.

(Whispers)

That was part of a homily that a priest once gave. About people who show up to church and go through the motions, but can’t remember what the gospel was about five minutes after its conclusion.
For everyone who could remember what we were reading five minutes ago, he asked them if they could remember last week. And the week before. And the week before that. And of course, I couldn’t, because I had just been sitting there, in one ear and out the other.

It was embarrassing, because I thought I had been paying attention, and yet here I was, groping in my memory for what he had read just a few minutes previously. The lesson stuck in my head. I pay better attention now… but only because a priest pointed it out in a homily.

 

[TC3033]

Agreed with most everyone else… Priests are people and some are going to be better at homilies and speaking than others.

My wife had one priest where we’re pretty sure his goal was to have Mass done in less than 45 min. His homilies were no longer that 2-4 minutes. The priest at my wife’s Parish now is a good public speaker, but a lot of times I think he tries to get too cute and too funny in his homilies and every once in a while says something where you just sit back and say “did he just say that?”. Or sometimes his homilies are just commercials for the parish school. We’ve kind of gotten out of that though. Haven’t heard one on that since he disclosed where a parish family lived and how they sent their kid to a school 15 min away rather than their parish elementary…

My wife and I do wish we could get a homily once in a while that applies to our everyday lives that we can talk about rather than walking out and having no idea what he was getting at or can you believe he said that. I’m sure there’s other Parishes around the state/country where we can get that. Just haven’t found it yet.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I find I will remember the particular homilies that really “speak” to me or that teach me something I didn’t know before. For example, I remember a homily and gospel from a First Friday Mass from many months ago, I think it might have been last January, because the priest explained the gospel about Jesus and the fig tree in a very interesting way. But I can’t remember the homily or readings from 2 weeks ago without looking them up on USCCB to jog my memory.

I also remember some parts of homilies that weren’t particularly tied to a gospel, such as about a year and a half ago when a priest said, “People ask where is God? When he is right there.” (pointing to tabernacle) “Waiting for you.”

Memory is a funny thing.

And I would note that as much as I complain about that priest who used to give the same homily over and over, I can remember to this day every point he used to make even though it’s been 30 years now. “Tell them and tell them and tell them again” certainly works for getting the message across.

 

[blackforest]

I agree and would add that there’s also the factor of common courtesy. I’ve been both a teacher in classrooms and a lector and Mass. This weird thing happens in audiences - members think and act as though they’re somehow invisible, like the person presenting to them can’t see or hear the Smartphones, yawns, sighs, twiddling, chit-chatting, or countless other signs of not listening.

I get that we have our “off” days at Mass. In fact, I was so exhausted at the 8am on this past Sunday that I can’t recall a word of the homily. But we at very least owe the priest the courtesy of trying.

The priest is the shepherd of the flock and it is his job to lead us to green pastures. He has an important role to play in spiritual formation.

And he’s playing it. By providing a homily. It’s not his fault if someone decides that the material is “boring,” i.e. that he’s not entertaining enough. If I choose not to listen to my priest, doctor, auto mechanic, etc. because what they’re saying is “boring,” I’m the only one to blame.

 

[OKComputer]

I hear you, sometimes my mind wanders too during homilies.

Our priests have really, really hard jobs and they are always doing their best. I try to remember that even though they might not be thrilling speakers.

 

[PetraG]

If I choose not to listen to my priest, doctor, auto mechanic, etc. because what they’re saying is “boring,” I’m the only one to blame.

This raises an important point. Is the primary feature of a good homily that it is not boring?
Isn’t the main thing whether or not they are telling us about the truths we can know from the Holy Scriptures?
Who goes to their doctor or dentist or mechanic and says, “You are a wonder at diagnosis and your treatment advice is excellent, your ‘bedside manner’ is good, but you are so boring!!”

Yes, we need priests who are emotionally intelligent, but what about just expecting them to tell us the unequivocal truth? If they do that, does it matter so much how “engaging” they are when they tell us what we need to hear? Of the work of speaking and listening, part of the work does belong to us, right?

I’m not saying it is unimportant, because of course priests try to reach even the members of their flock who don’t bring the effort to the Liturgy of the Word that their listeners ought to bring. I’m saying we ought to also try to bring what we can of ourselves to the process. (Obviously, at some times in our lives, we’re going to see we don’t have much to bring. That may be something to get outside help with, such as reading homilies because we don’t have the attention span for listening that maybe we ideally ought to have.)