January 22, 2025 at 9:57 a.m.
Proclaiming the Good News
The 20th-century evangelist Archbishop Fulton Sheen died on Sunday, Dec. 9, 1979, after returning from St. Patrick’s Cathedral where he had been rehearsing his Christmas homily. That one of the Church’s greatest preachers of our age was preparing so early gave me pause as I approached my first Christmas homily as a priest. My homily was only a vague idea on Dec. 9, and it took its final shape quite close to delivering it on Christmas Eve.
Preaching stood at the forefront as I made my way through my first Christmas season as a priest. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning were days of excitement, and it was so consoling to see so many people gathered and filled with joy. At the same time, I felt the responsibility to deliver a meaningful message.
Priestly Preaching
Following our Lord’s command to “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel” (Mk. 16:15), the Church highlights the importance of the priest’s preaching role. At Vatican II the Church listed it first among the priest’s duties, emphasizing that priests are “debtors to the truth of the Gospel” and so bear “the primary duty of proclaiming the Gospel to all.” At ordination, the priest’s promises include the resolution to preach the Gospel “worthily and well.”
A fitting model for priestly preaching is John the Baptist. His mission was to “prepare the way of the Lord” (Lk. 3:4). As crowds approached him to be baptized in the Jordan River, he proclaimed that “one mightier than I is coming,” and “he preached the good news to the people” (Lk. 3:16, 18). Like John the Baptist, the priest is charged with proclaiming the Good News, to point others to Christ.
So great a responsibility brings with it the joy of sharing the Good News and the challenge of doing so in a way that relates the Gospel to the lives of the faithful. As I began preaching, I was comfortable speaking in front of groups, having studied public speaking and speaking so often during my law career.
Yet the responsibility of relating the particular Gospel in a way meaningful to the faithful takes preparation. Priests follow their own unique steps to prepare a homily. One of the first challenges in preparing any homily is selecting just one theme among the many that could come to mind. Then there follows a process of reflection and then writing out thoughts. I find it helpful to consult some commentaries, especially Bishop Robert Barron’s online homilies.
Throughout the preparation, the priest must be rooted in prayer, spending time prayerfully reflecting on the readings and being open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Preaching and Living the Message
Preparing my Christmas homily, I found my heart drawn to the notion of hope as we began the Jubilee Year of Hope. I worked on a simple message: Christ’s coming into our world gives our lives a new direction to which we can look forward with hope. At last I delivered my homily at our 7 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass, feeling greatly relieved. As the season continued with the Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord, I focused on how we can live out that message of hope throughout the year.
In crafting those homilies, I was mindful that I was preaching to myself as much as to the congregation. As we begin the new year and move into Ordinary Time, I am called to live out the message of hope that I preached. As a priest, I need to hear again St. Charles Borromeo’s admonition: “Be sure that you first preach by the way you live.”
Father Tom Fallati is parochial vicar at St. Kateri Tekakwitha parish in Schenectady.
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