An extremely popular homilist, "Father Eddie" shares tips and techniques for effective preaching —
guaranteeing an interesting, provocative, and faith-evoking homily! This must-have guide
for new preachers will also appeal to veterans looking for greater engagement with their assemblies.
- Explore the 4 rules of good public speaking.
- Ask yourself the 3 questions for successful faith formation (to which every homilist should answer yes).
- Find your voice, and cultivate your style.
- Discover how to connect with each person in your audience — even though all of them
process information in different ways!
- Learn the 6 principles of preparation.
Father Eddie includes 28 of his most powerful homilies, which demonstrate how to use stories
for interest and how to bridge your thoughts for clear communication. Your worshiping assembly
is hungry for relevance and inspiration — if you preach the word like this, they will come
to deeper faith!
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Four Rules
2. The Three Questions
3. What Voice Are You In?
4. Know Your Audience
5. Get Help in Preparing
Concluding Remarks
Selected Homilies
2nd Sunday of Advent (C)
4th Sunday of Advent (C)
Mary, Mother of Jesus (C)
Feast of the Holy Family (A)
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
8th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
1st Sunday of Lent (A or C)
2nd Sunday of Lent (A): The Transfiguration
4th Sunday of Lent (C)
Palm Sunday (B)
Easter Vigil (A)
Easter Sunday (C)
3rd Sunday of Easter (B)
5th Sunday of Easter (C): Mother's Day
Feast of the Ascension (B): Mother's Day
Pentecost (A)
Trinity Sunday (C)
Corpus Christi: Body & Blood of Christ (A)
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): Father's Day
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): Youth Sunday
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): Youth Sunday
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Bibliography
Introduction
When I studied theology, there was a word that drew me, and it has never left me: "presence."
Theology and ministry are about presence. Preaching, too, is very much about presence.
"Presence is that which creates a people. Presence is the reality to which man must attune himself
if he is to live at all, for there is no solitary life. … Presence is the begetter of theology. … [which]
is not the science of a divine object, …Theology is not to know God but to be aware of being grasped
and called to do the will of God in history" (Terrien 124, 140, 142, 143. Whenever I quote directly from a person
or source, I will write in the language they used. In my own writing, however, I shall use inclusive language.).
I have been a Jesuit for twenty years and just celebrated thirteen years of ordained ministry. After twelve years
as associate and pastor of Christ the King Catholic Church in San Diego, and in my first year at Most Holy Trinity
Church in San Jose, I feel "grasped and called" to share a way of organizing and structuring a homily that is
both practical and learnable and is adaptable to the preacher's own personality and style.
Not wanting to reinvent the wheel in this book, I desire to give the prospective preacher a simple method
of checking yourself in your organization to guarantee an interesting, provocative, and faith-evoking method
of preparing a homily or sermon. I also want to show how the use of "stories" enhances the preacher's ability
to help the congregation build a bridge from the Scriptures, or "The Story," to their own stories. To illustrate
the power of a story, let me share one that is a source of imagination and inspiration to me, an adaptation
of one that was originally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci:
#
A young girl wandered into an artist studio, where she watched as he carefully chiseled away at a huge block
of marble. She sat quietly for some time, engrossed in the process, and then left without a word.
A few weeks later, the girl returned. She stood in amazement, mouth agape, as she gazed at the stunning
polished figures that had emerged from the raw stone since her last visit. Finally, she asked the sculptor how
he knew that this wonderful composition would be in the stone. He turned and smiled at her, and then said,
"For many days, I contemplated this piece of stone. At different times of the day, I sat and watched how it
absorbed and reflected the light. I studied the way the veins of color moved in the marble and the textures
it created. I began to get a sense of the true character of the marble. One day, a picture emerged in my mind
of these figures, which were living in the stone, just waiting to be revealed. All I had to do was remove
the pieces of the stone that weren't part of the figures."
#
As a preacher, you must sit with both the block of marble that is your life and the block that is Scripture.
Christ is already there in your heart of hearts. Once you discover the Christ in your heart, then you can
recognize the Christ in the text of the Scriptures and in the text of your life begging you to be set free.
The rest is easy: Chip away what isn't of Christ.
I will not go into the details of how I prepare spiritually; namely, how I contemplate the marble of my life
and the Scriptures to deliver the homily or sermon. I presume that all preachers are persons of prayer
who encounter the living God through whom we breathe and have our being. I also presume that we read,
reread, study, and struggle with the Scriptures while praying them all week. Finally, I presume that we know
and love God's people and that we are as humble walking with them as we are with God. Having said this,
I will not presume that we are as structurally prepared as we are spiritually prepared to deliver what God
wants us to say. My hope is to help us build on our own experience and open ourselves to effective structures
and methodologies for getting the Word across to people eager to receive it.
The first part of the book is a manual in which you will find:
- four points to an interesting talk
- three questions for an effective evangelizing event
- some thoughts on the use of story
- some helpful points from the Myers-Briggs psychological typing[1] that can enhance our communication
with the vast variety of people in our congregations, who all process words and ideas differently
- helpful suggestions for discovering a theme for the homily based on the Scriptures used
- suggestions for keeping files on what and for whom you have preached
The remainder of the book will present examples of homilies that people have told me impacted them.
They are from the three-year cycle of lectionary readings. At the end, I have included a bibliography
of works cited and a wealth of sources from which you can better prepare to fulfill the ministry of the word.
In so doing, let us remember to "preach the Word always, and if necessary, use words" (St. Francis of Assisi).
May God's glory and honor be served.
1. Dr. Isabel Briggs Myers and Dr. Katharine Cook Briggs, along with Dr. David Keirsey and Dr. Marilyn Bates,
have studied the ways different individuals take in reality, process it, and respond to it. Their work is based
on Carl Jung's theories of psychological types.
Sample Homily: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Youth Sunday
(Ho-hum) We read today, in the first reading, that Joshua, the successor to Moses, is pleading with his
people before he dies. If we continue reading chapter 24 of the Book of Joshua, we will read that he dies
right after ratifying a new covenant. In it, the people choose to serve the God of their ancestors, and not
of the peoples that they have conquered. Joshua would not have pleaded with them if they were not leaving
in droves to follow easier ways and if he were not dying, feeling a bit guilty that under his leadership so
many had left. The people of Israel were given a leader, Joshua, who would bring them back to their senses
and recognize their roots.
We find Jesus in the past five weeks pleading with the people of his day to see and hear his message
of love and compassion and commitment, which are the words of everlasting life. The people resist his words.
Many walk away even after witnessing miracle after miracle, blessing after blessing, and kindness after kindness.
How many of us walk away or shy away from doing or saying what is right for fear of the consequences?
How many of you kids stay quiet when a bully mistreats a friend or acquaintance at school or when a friend
steals something from someone or from a store? I heard the other day about someone at work, who after
hearing and seeing how some of the coworkers made fun of others for sharing their faith, remained quiet
while they destroyed the dignity of the other. How many of us do likewise and walk away? How many of us
stay quiet when, in the workplace unjust policies are in place?
Peter is the one who sees and hears God's words and presence and responds to the question, "Will you
also go?" with the famous words, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life."
Peter was sent, as Jesus tells him in another Gospel, to console the others when he himself has recovered
from his own wrongdoing: denying Christ three times. In Mark's Gospel, we find him answering the question,
"Who do you say that I am?" with, "You are the Christ!"
(Why did you bring this up?) On this Youth Sunday, I must share that we have had a Peter, a Joshua among us
for more than fifty-four years: Jimmy Picco, our own man-born-blind. This parish has had its share of very
difficult times. More than twenty-five years ago, a group split off from the parish to start another church.
A staff member shared the other day that those who remained gathered to pray, to grieve the loss, to examine
the pastoral direction of the parish, and to move on while staying. Jimmy was one of those quiet leaders who
wished everyone well but stayed to support those whose faith was a bit fragile. He is an angel, a saint.
(For instance) He played the organ and directed the choir for more than twenty years. Then, what happened?
Pope John the XXIII blew open the doors and windows of the church and let in the fresh air of the Vatican II
Council. Out went the music Jimmy so dearly loved to play and sing. Out went the solemnity of the Tridentine
Mass, which was in Latin. If anyone had cause to become disillusioned, it was Jimmy. What did he do? He
became a lector and the head of hospitality for the parish. He didn't mope and quit. He looked for a new way
to express his love of God and his love of this parish. He knew nothing but happy service.
Jimmy developed a wonderful relationship with the teens who worked in the office in the late afternoon.
He'd call to get the newly registered names of parishioners, and then he would call each one and welcome
them to the parish and have a friendly conversation with them. The word catholic means universal. A more
universal person has not existed in this parish.
Jimmy embraced the changes of Vatican II as coming from the God who loved him. He was a member of the
old 10:45 Mass, that let out all the stops in order to experience more deeply the presence of God in the
Eucharist. When that Mass did not keep up with the spiritual needs of the people over the years and dwindled
to about twenty people, Father Mike and I and the staff made a pastoral decision to change the Mass to
Spanish and invite the old members to join the other communities that worship here.
Some people left the parish. Others, like Jimmy, went with other communities. Jimmy joined the 5:30 p.m.
Mass, where he was invited to be the first-reading lector at every Mass he would attend. Change is difficult
for all of us. Jimmy embraced the difficult change. He will be missed.
Jimmy knew every parishioner's voice. He knew, or would find out, who would need to be called if a
parishioner was sick or dying, and he took it upon himself to call people. He had a wonderful energy and a
wonderful sense of humor that endeared him to anyone who met him. He embraced his ministry with the joy
of knowing that he served the God he loved, and he loved the people he cared for.
Jimmy's final change was death. He fought it until the end. Then, as the night nurse at hospice shared, she
found him praying the night before he died. He was praying the Our Father. When he finished, he told her,
"I am ready to go." He embraced death, the final change. He taught me how to live and how to die.
(So what?) Yes, Jimmy was a Joshua who pleads with all of us, not with words, but with his life. He is
pleading with us to come together always, especially in times of trouble and be one in the Lord. For
fifty-four years, he prayed the rosary, asking God to help the parish and its parishioners. Jimmy was a Peter
who saw with eyes not like ours. He saw everyone as a friend in the Lord, regardless of color, language,
or political or religious agenda. He never gave in to the murmurings of people of little faith. He tells us today,
"We walk by faith and not by sight."
What Jesus asked the disciples, he asks us, too. "Will you also leave?" How do you respond? Do you respond
like the people in Joshua's day: "We also will serve the Lord, our God?" Do you respond like Peter: "To whom
shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life?" Or will you walk away like many in Joshua and Jesus'
day. The choice is yours. Either way, we will celebrate together our oneness in Christ.
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