How long should a good homily be? That question is often discussed. A related question–but one that is not often addressed–is how long goes a homily have to be? In other words, how short is too short? I got to thinking about this question this weekend while visiting a parish in Massachusetts. The priest was preaching on the Baptism of Jesus, and he focused on one line from John’s Gospel: “He is the one of whom I said, ’A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” The priest asked whether–in work situations or in our home life–we are willing to step aside in favor of someone “ranks ahead of us.” Then provocatively he asked (and I’m paraphrasing here), “But who possibly could rank ahead of us?” And then he sat down. The homily was no more than three minutes. Someone behind be whispered, incredulously, “That’s all?” Now short homilies are expected during a weekday service, but on a Sunday? Yet I found it refreshing. The preacher had one insightful point to make, about the importance of humility, and he made it clearly, without any unnecessary embellishments. Because his homily was so short, it stuck in our minds. Pretty successful, don’t you think? Now I don’t think you can do this every Sunday. (For one thing, a priest known for three-minute homilies may get an overflow crowd!) But every so often it can serve as an effective preaching tool. Of course, I’m writing as a layman–I’d be interested to hear from people in the business of delivering weekly sermons. Tim Reidy

Tim Reidy is the deputy editor in chief of America Media.