ePriest.com: Your Spanish Homily

Readings

Reading I: Acts 13:14, 43-52
Psalm: Psalms 100:1-2, 3, 5
Reading II: Revelation 7:9, 14-17
Gospel: John 10:27-30

Preaching Tip

A “Made To Stick” Villain: Burying the Lead

 

Made to Stick is a book about how to market an idea; how to get a message to “stick”.  While it was not written for homilists, it does have some great nuggets of wisdom that can help us in our weekly mission to make the Gospel message “stick” to our parishioner’s hearts.

 

The book includes a handful of “villains” that will make a message “not stick”.  One of these villains is the tendency to “bury the lead”. 

 

In journalism, this expression about “burying the lead” means that the lead story or article for a newspaper needs to be on the front page, not “buried” in the classified ads section.

 

The lead story should be presented first and foremost in its clearest and most simplified version.   Details about the story can follow later.  If not, the message is diluted and has no impact.

 

The book emphasizes the importance of leading with the most crucial point, ensuring that the audience's attention is immediately captured and focused on what's essential. By doing so, the message becomes clearer, more engaging, and more likely to be remembered.

 

For preaching, we can ask: “What is the Christian lead?”

 

The answer is definitively the kerygma!  The “Christian lead” is always the good news of the Paschal Mystery!  

 

For a homily, try distilling the main message down to one sentence.  This will help prepare a better and more organized homily, but it will also stick better if this one sentence is delivered first. 

 

If we bury the lead, the most critical information is obscured and hidden in the midst of less important details. The audience can easily miss the core idea, making it harder for the message to stick.

 

Making sure that the lead isn’t buried may mean different things for different pastors. 

 

For example, we risk “burying the lead” when we begin with parish updates, fundraising pitches, tidbits of liturgical history, arcane saint stories, or reading aloud the parish bulletin’s upcoming events.

Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C (C 4 Pascua)

                                                                   EL CRISTIANO SIGUE LA LLAMADA DEL PASTOR

La Iglesia ha elegido este domingo, en que se lee la parábola del buen pastor, para pedir por las vocaciones al sacerdocio. ¿Qué tiene que ver un pastor y la vocación? El Buen Pastor representa a Jesucristo que nos cuida personalmente y que está dispuesto a dar su vida por nosotros. Y el sacerdote es "otro Cristo" al que se le ha confiado el cuidado de un buen número de cristianos. Ninguno de nosotros puede decir: "No me interesa el tema", porque a todos nos afecta directamente el hecho de que podamos tener muchos y santos sacerdotes.

1. Una tarde hace muchos años, un niño llamó a la puerta donde vivía San Juan Bosco en la ciudad de Turín, Italia. Este le preguntó: "¿Qué quieres?" Y el niño le dijo: "¡Quiero ser sacerdote!" Se llamaba Domingo Savio. Detrás de cada vocación hay un misterio de amor. La idea de llegar a ser sacerdote no viene espontáneamente ni por casualidad. Es Dios el que llama, pero necesita encontrar un alma bien dispuesta a escuchar y a seguir la vocación. "Mis ovejas oyen mi voz. -dice Jesús-.Yo las conozco y ellas me siguen".

2. Hoy es el día del seminario. Nos quejamos de que los seminarios estén vacíos. Se habla de crisis vocacional. ¿Será que Dios se ha cansado de llamar? No, Dios sigue llamando, pero hace falta que en las familias reine un ambiente cristiano fervoroso, hace falta que en las parroquias se promuevan las actividades formativas y apostólicas, hace falta educar a la generosidad para no negarle nada a Dios cuando Él pide algo. Hay que rezar mucho por las vocaciones. Y si está en tus manos, ayuda económicamente para el sostenimiento de un seminarista, como si fuera tu propio hijo.

3. El Papa Benedicto XVI está convencido de que las vocaciones a la vida consagrada surgen de las familias cristianas. El domingo 4 de febrero, después de la oración del Ángelus, el Papa comentó: "Un clima familiar sereno, iluminado por la fe favorece el surgimiento y florecimiento de vocaciones al servicio del Evangelio". Se puede decir que la crisis de vocaciones es una crisis de la familia.

¿Alguno de tus hijos ha manifestado inquietudes vocacionales? ¿Conoces a niños o jóvenes en tu medio ambiente que necesitan una palabra, una ayuda, una oración para madurar su decisión de seguir a Jesucristo? Tú puedes ser un promotor vocacional cultivando la práctica de la vida cristiana entre los que te rodean. ¡Una vocación sacerdotal puede depender de ti!

English Translation

Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C

                                                                           CHRISTIANS FOLLOW THE SHEPHERD'S CALL

The Church has chosen this Sunday, in which we read the parable of the Good Shepherd, to pray for vocations to the priesthood. What is the relationship between shepherds and vocations? The Good Shepherd represents Christ who takes care of us personally, and is willing to give his life for us. And the priest is "another Christ" entrusted with the care of a group of Christians. None of us can say: "I am not interested in this," since we are all directly affected by the fact that we can have many holy priests.

1. One afternoon many years ago, a child knocked on the door of St John Bosco in the city of Turin, Italy, who asked him, "What do you want?" The little boy answered: "I want to be a priest!" His name was Dominic Savio. Behind every vocation is a mystery of love. The idea of becoming a priest doesn't come spontaneously or by accident. God is the one who calls, but he needs to find a soul willing to listen, and to follow his vocation. "My sheep hear my voice," Jesus says, "I know them and they follow me."

2. Today is the day of the seminary. We complain that our seminaries are empty. There is talk about a vocational crisis. Is it possible that God has grown tired of calling? No, God keeps calling, but there must be a fervent Christian environment among families, parishes need to promote formative and apostolic activities, young people need to be taught generosity so as not to deny God anything He asks for. We need to pray for vocations a lot. And it is in your hands: give economic assistance to support a seminarian as if he were your own son.

3. Pope Benedict XVI is convinced that vocations to consecrated life come from Christian families. On Sunday February 4, after praying the Angelus, the Pope noted: "A peaceful family environment, enlightened by Faith, favors the growth and flourishing of vocations to serve the Gospel." One could say that the crisis of vocations is a crisis of the family.

Has any of your children shown interest in the vocation? Do you know children or young people in your environment in need of prayer, assistance or encouragement to mature in their decision to follow Christ? You can be a vocational promoter, fostering the practice of Christian life in those who live around you. A priestly vocation could be depending on you!