As a Catholic priest, there are several expected questions that often come at unexpected times, usually from my wonderfully expectant high school students.
Why do you wear black? Have you ever done an exorcism? What’s the worst sin you’ve heard? What’s the worst sin you’ve committed? And the list goes on.
A really great question is, “How do you come up with your homilies?”
Every priest has a different approach. Mine begins with a deep passion for the homily itself, sometimes called “the sermon.”
I usually start preparing a homily a week before it’s given, praying with the readings, the Mass prayers, considering the global, national, and local landscape. I also consult between five and eight scholarly commentaries and related resources. I then discern what God is asking of me.
Then I write.
Imagine a sculptor taking precious raw material then carefully fashioning it into something beautiful and hopefully useful for the beholder. It takes time, a lot of adjustments, and lots of prayer. It’s hard work. It’s holy work.
Then, I read the text of the homily countless times beforehand, make countless more edits, so when it’s eventually delivered, the text before me is a reminder, not a crutch. I never want to “read” a homily.
Such familiarity and flexibility permit new insights during the homily, room to go off script, and space to improvise.
Some scholars of preaching have compared giving homily to flying on a plane. There should be an easy take off, smooth flight, and a gentle landing. Never should there be multiple take offs, multiple landings, turbulence, and a crash! I try and heed that good advice.
It’s common that I’ll preside at more than one Mass on a given weekend. It’s also common that I’ll make edits to the homily in between Masses. It might sound good in my mind, might look great on paper, but it doesn’t deliver well for whatever reason. Thus, revision is necessary.
At its best, a homily is a rhetorical event designed to inspire agency within the hearer to become anew the Body and Blood of Christ they have received at Mass. It should lead the faithful to some kind of practical Christ-centered action.
That’s one reason I often end the homily with a reflective question rather than issue a bold declaration or make a feeble attempt to solve an otherwise complicated problem. Respecting the context and agency of each person is enormously important.
It takes about a week for me to arrive at a seven-minute homily. It’s is an honor. It’s privilege. It’s prayer. It’s holy fun!
Fr. Kevin Scalf, C.PP.S., is a priest of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood who wrote for Dateline as an undergraduate, 1993—1997. He is currently a member of the faculty and administration at McNicholas High School, Cincinnati.