The Homily at Mass: What It Is and Its Biblical Roots

After the Gospel is proclaimed, the priest or deacon gives the homily. In this session of The Mass Explained, Dr. Brant Pitre explains what a homily is — "an explanation of some aspect of the readings… or of another text" of the Mass, "necessary for the nurturing of the Christian life" (GIRM 65) — why on Sundays and Holy Days it "may not be omitted without a grave reason," and why it is reserved to an ordained minister (priest or deacon), "but never to a lay person." He traces its roots to Ezra and the Levites, who read the Law and "gave the sense, so that the people understood" (Nehemiah 8), to Jesus preaching on Isaiah in the synagogue (Luke 4), to the risen Christ "opening the Scriptures" on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24), and even to St. Paul, who "prolonged his speech until midnight" (Acts 20). He shows how the homily was preached from the earliest centuries (Justin Martyr; Augustine's continuous homilies on John), how the Council of Trent (1562) and Vatican II (1963) restored the Sunday homily, and how Benedict XVI called for homilies to be carefully prepared and closely tied to Scripture.

Key passages & sources examined: Ezra and the Levites who "gave the sense" (Nehemiah 8:1–8); Jesus preaching on Isaiah in the synagogue (Luke 4:16–22); the road to Emmaus, "he opened to us the Scriptures" (Luke 24:27–32); Paul's sermon until midnight (Acts 20:7–12); the Homily in the Order of Mass (GIRM 65); and Benedict XVI on preaching (Sacramentum Caritatis 46).