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A couple of years ago, I was in the Vatican on a Wednesday morning for the pope’s weekly audience. The sun was warm, I was still a bit sleepy and the pope was reading a text in Italian. My thoughts started to drift and my eyelids started to become heavy. Suddenly, the pope stopped reading, looked up from his papers and asked: “Are you all still awake?” The crowd began to laugh, probably because I wasn’t the only one who was sleepy that morning.
Pope Francis dropped his prepared speech in his lap, bent forward and said on a confidential tone into the microphone: “You see, this is why I always tell priests not to preach for more than 8 to 10 minutes”.
I have always struggled with this. My ADHD brain has trouble registering the passing of time, and I can completely lose myself in the story that I’m sharing. Great for long-form podcasts like my recent Catholic Insider audiotours in Rome, not so great for my parishioners sitting in uncomfortable pews on Sunday morning.
My New Year’s resolution therefore is to limit myself to 8 minutes when I’m preaching. And I came across an app that helps me visualize the passing of time while I’m preaching, called ‘Time Timer’. I tried it out this past Sunday, and the feedback from my parishioners surprised me.
I talk about it and about my other plans for this new year (including my availabilty as a social media coach) in this new episode of The Walk. If you are interested in my coaching plans, send me a message and I will keep you informed!
Fr. Roderick