The term homily comes from the late Latin homilĭa , itself derived from a Greek word. The first meaning mentioned in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) refers to the discourse or reasoning that is developed to present or transmit religious issues .
The homily, therefore, is the explanation or reflection that the priest makes after proclaiming the word of God . In it, he guides the faithful on the application of divine mandates in daily life .
The rituals and prayers of the liturgy can also be explained in the homily. The intention is for the believer to have a deep understanding of the celebration and to be able to participate fully.
The preacher should not include his opinions in the homily: his role is to serve God by transmitting the faith of the Church . It is not an instrument for the religious to make known his opinion or his subjective vision of some event, but rather a mechanism to optimize the arrival of religious content to the faithful.
It should be noted that the priest cannot improvise the homily. On the contrary, he must prepare it thoroughly. The application of the precepts of rhetoric in preaching is called homiletics .
It is precisely at this point that the debate begins about the best way to prepare a homily. On the one hand, the priest must follow a series of unbreakable rules so that his sermon is worthy of being presented in the house of God. But it is also true that homiletics proposes the search for unexplored paths to renew the experience in each encounter with the faithful.
Finding a theme is not easy, and this is particularly hard on younger priests. Anyone who has ever attended a Christian mass knows that there is usually a common thread that runs through the entire ceremony , and that this is not always religious in nature, so to speak, but can be a social problem, a news story that has impacted people in the media, or simply a useful lesson for becoming better people.
In order for the message to reach people with the desired impact, the priest must make use of various resources, both material and symbolic. The placement of the voice is one of the fundamental aspects, since it influences his vocal health as much as the clarity of his words . To successfully achieve this goal, he can take drama or singing classes, or follow the advice of his elders.
On the other hand, the use of biblical texts to complement the message is a highly recommended resource. It is a very old practice that is still effective today, as it gives more weight to the priest's words, supporting them with the very word of God.
Gestures, audience participation, songs chosen to intersperse sermons with music, and the priest's movement around the church are other important aspects to enhance communication. The most impactful homily is one that people can identify with, one that they experience intensely from beginning to end, and not a speech that they must passively listen to.
Homiletics can be said to be the art of preparing the homily so that the transmission of religious discourse is effective. Summarizing everything said so far, the cleric must analyze the style, composition and elaboration of the sermon and learn to use his voice , body and gestures so that communication with those listening to the homily is successful.