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Views from the Choir Loft

Seven Rules for Writing Sermons

Fr. David Friel · July 23, 2017

RTFUL CELEBRATION of the liturgy (ars celebrandi) has, quite fortunately, received an explosion of interest in recent years. A significant part of this focus, to be sure, results from the writing and example of the Holy Father Emeritus, Pope Benedict XVI. In fact, I reflected recently on some of Benedict’s thoughts on the matter.

The art of preaching, however, has not always received the same level of attention in Catholic circles. Most priests and seminarians, I would wager, do not view themselves as “preachers.” And yet preaching is one of the most fundamental methods of evangelization at the Church’s disposal.

Most ordinary Catholics would agree that their priest’s preaching could be improved. To this end, Bl. John Henry Newman once sketched a few recommendations to guide the writing of sermons.

His admonishments are as follows:

1. A man should be earnest, by which I mean he should write not for the sake of writing, but to bring out his thoughts.

2. He should never aim at being eloquent.

3. He should keep his idea in view, and should write sentences over and over again until he has expressed his meaning accurately, forcibly, and in a few words.

4. He should aim at being understood by his hearers or readers.

5. He should use words which are likely to be understood. Ornament and amplification will come spontaneously in due time, but he should never seek them.

6. He must creep before he can fly, by which I mean that humility which is a great Christian virtue has a place in literary composition.

7. He who is ambitious will never write well, but he who tries to say simply what he feels, what religion demands, what faith teaches, what the Gospel promises, will be eloquent without intending it, and will write better English than if he made a study of English Literature.

(Taken from Wilfrid Ward, The Life of John Henry Cardinal Newman, vol. II)

Preaching styles necessarily adapt to time and circumstance. This is attested even in the life of the great preacher, St. Paul, who adopted different styles in different locales. It would be foolish to mimic St. Paul or Fulton Sheen or Cardinal Newman. Nevertheless, these rules offer guidance that would be apropos in any age.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“With all the powers of modern music open to him, from romanticism through French impressionism to the German and Russian modernists, he is yet able to confine all these contradictory forces on the groundwork of the Gregorian tradition.”

— Theodor Rehmann (on Msgr. Jules Van Nuffel)

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