As a Roman Catholic, my experience with homilies at Mass has historically been as follows: There are three main Bible readings in the Liturgy. There is an O.T. reading, something from one of the Epistles, and a Gospel reading. Whoever compiles the Liturgy (which is the same at every Catholic Church) sees to it that there is a common theme, or cross references among those three readings, but they all point in a certain direction.
The celebrating priest has the task of integrating the message of the three readings into a coherent theme, conveying a message of some sort to the congregation. In past years, priests have recognized that this is one of their primary obligations. Indeed, for most of the Faithful, this is the only chance he will have to "preach" to the congregation this week. FYI, the target is that this message should last for 8-10 minutes.
In recent years, however, I have seen more and more of priests just tossing out random thoughts that may or may not be related to the readings, and with no unifying theme or message. They no longer deliver the homily from the pulpit that is furnished for exactly that purpose. They wander around the altar, or even into the congregation. Often, these spontaneous utterings are confusing or simply lame. I attribute it to simple laziness. It is WORK to write a sermon. It has to be relevant, concise, and at least arguably inspirational.
How's it going in other churches, synagogues, mosques, etc.?
The celebrating priest has the task of integrating the message of the three readings into a coherent theme, conveying a message of some sort to the congregation. In past years, priests have recognized that this is one of their primary obligations. Indeed, for most of the Faithful, this is the only chance he will have to "preach" to the congregation this week. FYI, the target is that this message should last for 8-10 minutes.
In recent years, however, I have seen more and more of priests just tossing out random thoughts that may or may not be related to the readings, and with no unifying theme or message. They no longer deliver the homily from the pulpit that is furnished for exactly that purpose. They wander around the altar, or even into the congregation. Often, these spontaneous utterings are confusing or simply lame. I attribute it to simple laziness. It is WORK to write a sermon. It has to be relevant, concise, and at least arguably inspirational.
How's it going in other churches, synagogues, mosques, etc.?
