On not preaching a homily...

I mentioned in an earlier post that because a visiting missionary priest will be preaching at all the Masses this weekend in my parish, I have no Sunday homily to prepare.  Some part of me appreciates this respite from homily preparation and preaching -- but overall I experience a kind of emptiness about this, knowing that my week and the weekend's worship are strikingly different for me when preaching isn't part of both.

On Sunday afternoon I print out the scriptures for the coming Lord's Day and put them in my pocket.  Yes, I can find them through an app on my iPhone, too, but there's something about my fingers finding those papers every time I reach into my pocket that's healthy for my preaching and my own prayer.  The hard copy also gives me a place to jot down notes, ideas and, when the Spirit is generous, real insights into the readings to share in those 8-10 precious minutes after the Gospel is proclaimed.

As those pages travel in my pocket and come up for air at different times through the week, I'm constantly reminded of the Word that's mine to preach come Sunday.  In ways tangible and spiritual, those scriptures steep in my imagination, my thoughts and my prayer through the week. I find often myself taking them out and reading them over as I settle in my car to take off for this or that destination.  (Over the years I've found that good homily ideas come most frequently in two places: behind the wheel and in the shower!)

I've been preaching since 1972 and over these nearly four decades preparing a homily and anticipating and experiencing preaching it have become a substantial part of my prayer life and the spiritual foundation of my ministry through the week.  It's no exaggeration to say that this work is a great joy in my life.

So, why don't I just go ahead and prepare a homily even if I won't be preaching it?  Well, that would be like preparing a dinner you knew you weren't going to serve to anyone.  A homily of its nature is a word for others, it's a word addressed to a community, it's a word intended to be spoken, to be heard, to be shared.  To write a homily that I wouldn't be preaching would be to write something of an essay -- but a homily is so much more than an essay.

In fact, a homily is an integral part of the liturgy and the only part of the liturgy which is not scripted for the priest or deacon by the Church.

By means of the homily the mysteries of the faith and the guiding principles of the Christian life are expounded from the sacred text, during the course of the liturgical year; the homily, therefore, is to be highly esteemed as part of the liturgy itself... (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, no. 52)

A part of the liturgy itself...  The American bishops in their document, Fulfilled in Your Hearing (FIYH), draw this point out:

The very meaning and function of the homily is determined by its relation to the liturgical action of which it is a part. It flows from the Scriptures which are read at that liturgical celebration, or more broadly, from the Scriptures which undergird its prayers and actions, and it enables the congregation to participate in the celebration with faith. (FIYH, no. 42)

Those of you who hear or read my homilies regularly know that they invariably end with a reference to the table, the altar, the cross of sacrifice and the prayer we are about to offer and the nourishment the Eucharist will give us.  Just so united are the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  The homily, rooted in the scriptures of the day, is meant to give us reason to go to the altar and, with praise and thanksgiving, to worship God who has done so many and such great things for us.  As the bishops put it:

In the Eucharistic celebration the homily points to the presence of God in people’s lives and then leads a congregation into the Eucharist, providing, as it were, the motive for celebrating the Eucharist in this time and place. 

This integral relation of the homily to the liturgy of the Eucharist which follows the liturgy of the Word has implications for the way in which the homily is composed and delivered. In the first place, the homily should flow quite naturally out of the readings and into the liturgical action that follows. (FIYH, nos. 60, 61)

As much as I appreciate the opportunity to preach the bridge between the tables of Word and Sacrament, when one of my deacons (or a visiting missionary) is assigned as homilist, it's an opportunity for me to sit back, listen and to hear in the homily what the Lord is speaking to his people and to me.  

But it's not only in others' homilies that I hear the Lord speaking to me.

When I preach, I record my homily for posting here on this page.  On Monday, then, I listen to that recording to hear what my parish heard.  It's a great way to grow as a preacher in terms of content and delivery.  While listening on Mondays, I often hear something in the message I preached that I did not hear when I wrote it or when I preached it.  It's said that "the preacher preaches what he himself needs to hear."  That's true.  Sometimes it's 24 hours or more later that I truly begin to hear what I preached, that I begin to hear what the Lord might be saying to me through my own homily.

Well, that's a little behind-the-scenes reflection from a preacher who, this weekend, has no homily and no one to preach to.  

I pray that I'll hear the Lord's voice in our visiting missionary's homily and wherever you are you'll hear the Lord's Word in the message of the one who breaks open the Scriptures and leads you to the table of the Supper, the altar of Sacrifice and the nourishment of Christ's Body and Blood in the gift of the Eucharist.


 
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