Reading Notes

Instructions, part one: What is a Homily?

Definitions

• Homily is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as

  • a sermon, especially one intended to edify a congregation on a practical matter and not intended to be a theological discourse.

  • A tedious moralizing lecture or admonition

  • An inspirational saying or platitude

  We are aiming for the first. Others define "colloquial usage, homily often means a sermon concerning a practical matter, a moralizing lecture or admonition, or an inspirational saying or platitude."

• Homily is described in the General Instructions to the Roman Missal:

  • Although in the readings from Sacred Scripture God’s word is addressed to all people of every era and is understandable to them, nevertheless, a fuller understanding and a greater effectiveness of the word is fostered by a living commentary on the word, that is, the Homily, as part of the liturgical action.

  • The homily should be an exposition of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture or of another text from the Ordinary or from the Proper of the Mass of the day and should take into account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners.

  From the above note: ... sermon on a practical matter... living commentary on the word.... particular needs of the listeners. Keep your homily close to  you and to your audience. (Topics: Education, Class homework, Sports, Personal struggle, Global warming, Midterms, Relationships, etc...)

Instructions part two: Finding the Lectionary

• First, scroll down to find the link to the texts for March 23, Easter Evening, 2008. Lectionary Readings (from Vanderbilt)

  • [The main page for Vanderbilt Divinity School Revised Common Lectionary]

• Read the texts that are designated for our (class) date.

• The lectionary is composed of 4 readings, Hebrew Bible Lection, Psalm, Epistle Lection, and Gospel Lection.

• The texts are:

Instructions, part three: How to write a homily?

Directions:

From the above remember,  ... sermon on a practical matter... living commentary on the word.... particular needs of the listeners. Keep your homily close to you and to your audience.

• Writing a homily takes time. Do not leave your effort till the last minute.

• The best practice is to start already today, read the 4 sources (Isaiah, Psalm, 1Corinthians, and Luke - use above link to read the texts) Two common approaches to writing the homily are offered here:

  Approach 1: These four texts are read and heard during one service. Might there be a collective or cumulative significance for scheduling these together?

  Approach 2: Consider what issue or topic you wish to discuss and wonder how these readings may provide additional perspective or questions about it (focus on something else and enabling these four to broaden our interest about it)

  In either approach, begin by concentrating on each liturgical reading separately. Write freely for a few minutes. Set it aside, and do the same for the others. Then bring your writings together and read them through - you may find a theme or point of interest around which to develop your homily. Although the sequence of the readings matters during service, you can sequence them as you wish for this homily.

  Veteran presenters stress the value of reading your work aloud to yourself in advance of our class. Doing so often leads writers to be more attentive to the flow of your delivery and to the overall progression of your ideas. Time yourself. Shoot for about five-minutes talking time.

  Note that you incorporate each of the four readings. You may include other references too, from literature, history, biblical stories we read, current events, politics, etc. Ideally, these serve to extend, oppose, and enrich the four liturgicaly readings and, ultimately, your homily.

Absurd Resource:

This humorous website makes some good points about what to aviod when writing a homily (Note: this is meant as humorous. Do not take this website as gospel, it is simply noting obvious points. I am not sure it refers to real homilies.)